


Laughter Is The Best Medicine (Until It’s A Poison)

by Shiniko1898



Series: A Broken Crown Still Shines [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Adventure, Angst, F/M, Humor, M/M, OC has issues, OC is going through it, OC needs extensive therapy, and would very much prefer not to deal with them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:41:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 25,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27448789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiniko1898/pseuds/Shiniko1898
Summary: Tanaka Yuma is Born as the third shinobi war is only a few years from ending, and raised knowing he’ll be a shinobi. He grows up a bit too fast and comes to learn far too early just what it means to be a Shinobi
Series: A Broken Crown Still Shines [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1920322
Comments: 182
Kudos: 156





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is Tanaka Yuma’s story, it connects to my other series “A Broken Crown Still Shines” but will make sense without reading that story!

His first memory is his mother’s laughter. A pretty laugh that most would find loud and obnoxious and not quite right. He loves it though. His mother’s laughter is the brightest thing in the tiny, poorly lit apartment he grows up in. Tanaka Yuma doesn’t meet his father until he’s three and he hides behind his joyful, laughing mother and glares furiously at the man who, until now, he only remembers seeing in pictures. 

The man is young and handsome and tired looking. When he crouches down in front of Yuma and smiles at him, Yuma hides in his mother’s skirt and glares as fiercely as a three year old can manage. His entire life that he can remember it’s only been himself and Kaa-Chan. This stranger with purplish eyes like his is an unknown. For Yuma, who loves his mother more than life itself and knows no other family, having the same eyes isn’t enough. 

“Hello, Yuma-kun. I’m your tou-san, you know. I’ve missed you.” The man reaches a hand out slowly to Yuma like he’s a scared animal and the young boy takes a step back and glowers more. 

“Prove it,” At three, Yuma is no genius, but he knows not to trust strangers. Kaa-Chan always says so, after all. 

The man doesn’t look offended or angry, just bemused, “Prove what? That I’ve missed you? Or that I’m your Tou-san?”

Yuma stares at the man the way a child who’s been asked a too complicated question does as his mother pulls her skirt gently out of his hands and goes to the kitchen. Wrinkles up his face and crosses his short little arms and jerks his chin up the way he’s seen big boys do when they’re confident, “That you’re Tou-San!”

“Well, your Kaa-Chan said I am, didn’t she?” The man grins like pleased cat and Yuma doesn’t see what’s so funny. 

“Kaa-Chan might be wrong.” Yuma is childishly proud of his counterargument. Kaa-Chan always tells him thinking is important and gives him treats when he questions things that don’t make sense to him. 

“Are you saying your Kaa-Chan isn’t smart enough to recognize her own husband?” The man cocks his head sideways and the grin grows even further.

“No!” Yuma loves his Kaa-Chan and would never think that. 

“Then she’s a liar?” 

Yuma nearly bursts into tears as he frantically denies it. So worried at the thought of calling his kaa-Chan stupid or a liar that he doesn’t even notice that the man has lifted him up and settled him on his hip. 

“Hush, Yuma-kun, your Otou-San is just playing with you. I know you don’t think I’m any of those things,” Kaa-Chan is in front of him suddenly and stroking his hair gently as she coos to him. 

Yuma just sniffles and hides his face in the man’s—  _ his Tou-San’s _ — flak jacket to hide his tears. The older boys on the playground make fun of him when he cries because only babies cry. Yuma isn’t a baby anymore, he’s  three,  so he does his best to hide his unhappiness away. 

“How about we go for a walk, Yuma-Kun? You can show me around the village and tell me all about what I’ve missed,” the man’s deep voice makes his chest rumble against Yuma as he speaks. 

Yuma leans back to stare up at the man and if it weren’t for his tou-san’s strong grip would have fallen headfirst backwards to the floor, “Snacks?”

A wide smile answers the tiny, hopeful question, “Of course, Yuma-kun. Do you like dango?”

Yuma forgets his apprehension in the way children tend to do and giggles happily, “the green ones?”

“Sure, Yuma-kun, if Okaa-Chan says it’s okay you can have all the green ones you can eat,” Purple eyes are dancing with amusement as they look down at Yuma. 

Yuma twists around to look as his favorite person where she’s smiling as she watches the pair, “Please, Kaa-chan? I’ll be good! I promise!”

“I know you will be, sweetheart. Don’t let Otou-San get lost, okay? And you! Don’t let him eat too much dango! He’ll get a stomachache!” Yuma giggles as his Kaa-Chan wags a finger at his Tou-San. 

“I promise, Kaiya. We’ll be back in time for dinner, We’ll have a good time,” Tou-San kisses Kaa-Chan on the lips and Yuma is not okay with that. That is his Kaa-Chan and his kisses and that’s just not okay. 

“No! My kaa-Chan! No kisses!” Yuma yanks on the firm material of the flak jacket and shouts furiously up at his Tou-San. 

“Ahh, I see, Okaa-Chan never taught you to share, did she?” Tou-San pokes him on the nose as he goes to walks out of the little apartment, Yuma held firmly on his hip. 

“Okaa-Chan taught me all sortsa things! She’s best!” Yuma declares it loudly and with all the hero worship a small child can have for his mother. 

“Really? What all has she taught you?” Tou-San tilts his head curiously down at him and curly brown hair falls over the Hitai-ate on his forehead with the movement. 

“Okaa-Chan is teaching me to read and write and- and how to get dressed! And how to hold a kunai and a shuri-shuri-shuriken! And she lets me help make food! And she teaches me stretches and how to put the, um, the white things on my feet!” Yuma is very, very proud of all the things he’s learned from his Kaa-Chan. 

“The white things? You mean the foot wrappings?” Tou-San asks as he smiles and nods at the old lady that sews with his Kaa-Chan once a month. Yuma doesn’t like her. She pinches his cheeks and smells funny. 

“Yeah! And– and she says I’m gonna be a, uh, a shinobi! Like you!” Yuma beams proudly. Kaa-Chan is always saying he’ll be a good shinobi like his otou-San. 

“Ah, really? I’m sure you’ll be an even better shinobi than me. I can already tell,” Tou-san whispers it to him like it’s a secret. Like he’s speaking it into the universe just for the two of them. Yuma is thrilled that his Tou-San agrees with him and can’t wait to tell Kaa-Chan. Can’t wait to show them they’re right. Yuma is too young to understand what exactly being a shinobi means, but he knows it’s important. Knows it’s the  _ best _ . He can’t wait to be one, too. 


	2. Chapter 2

Yuma clings to his Kaa-chan’s leg as tightly as he can. She’s not in her long skirt that he hides in when he’s unhappy anymore and her pretty, sandy colored hair is tied back and she’s dressed in a flak jacket and Yuma is wailing. His Kaa-Chan is leaving and he’s never not been with his kaa-Chan and for Yuma, it’s a horrifying prospect. 

“Yuma-kun, I have to go. I have to do my part to protect the village. It’ll be okay, Yuma-kun, your Tou-San is here with you,” Kaa-Chan’s voice isn’t full of laughter like it should be, it’s tight and sounds like she’s pretending calmness. 

“Stay!” Yuma doesn’t want his Kaa-Chan to leave. He doesn’t know where she’s going and she isn’t saying when she’ll come back and he  doesn’t understand why she’s leaving him. 

His tou-san’s strong hands gently pull him away from his mother’s leg. Tou-San holds him to his chest tightly enough that Yuma can’t struggle to get back to his mother, “Yuma, that’s enough. Okaa-Chan has to leave.”

Yuma disagrees. His kaa-Chan is supposed to stay here with him like she always has. He can’t stop crying even as she kisses his forehead and hugs his father goodbye. 

His kaa-Chan is out the door without looking back as soon as she releases his tou-San from her bone breaking hug. Yuma’s tears dry and his sobs fade as he watches the closed door, confusion and hurt making his little chest ache worse than when the older boys refuse to play with him because “he’s too little and can’t do anything”. His kaa-chan has never just left him while he’s crying. She always stays with him until he’s happy again. Won’t even go to another room without him until he’s giggling. Yuma doesn’t understand why it didn’t work this time. Why she just _left_ him. 

“Why?” He swivels his head around so fast his whole body falls sideways and his Tou-San has to quickly readjust his hold. 

“Why?” Purplish eyes, so like his own, look down at him like he’s not quite looking at Yuma. Looking _through_ instead of _at._ Yuma doesn’t understand that either. 

“Why’s Okaa-chan gone?” Yuma doesn’t understand and needs to understand why his mother just  left him. 

“She’s a shinobi, just like I am, just like you will be. She’s protecting the village and she’s protecting you when she’s gone,” Tou-San carries him into the kitchen and sets him on the floor before digging through the fridge. 

“Okaa-Chan is going to come back?” Yuma needs to make sure. Tou-San is a shinobi and he came back. That’s how it works, he thinks. Shinobi come back. 

Tou-San is silent for a moment as he pours milk into a sippy cup for Yuma. Then, in a much happier voice than before, says, “Your Okaa-Chan is going to do her very best to come back. She’s a good shinobi. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Yuma still doesn’t really understand, but he understands she’s going to come back which soothes his hurt a bit. He takes the sippy cup from his Tou-San and drinks it as he follows his tou-San around on short legs through the little apartment. He has to move quickly to even begin to keep up with his father’s long strides. 

His father sits down on the couch and leans forward with his legs spread and elbows resting on his knees. The pair just stare at each other for a while before Tou-San brings his hands together, “Watch closely, Yuma-kun. This is the Ram seal.”

Yuma squints at the funny shape his Tou-San makes with his hands. He keeps drinking the milk as his father makes the seal over and over again, slowly and deliberately. 

“I want you to try it now, alright, Yuma-kun?” 

Yuma doesn’t really want to stop drinking his milk but kaa-Chan always tells him to listen to adults. So, very reluctantly, he puts the sippy cup on the ground beside him and tries to mimic his Tou-san’s movements. Its awkward and feels uncomfortable but he grins proudly and laughs happily when he thinks he’s done it. 

Tou-San smiles back at him and his big hands take Yuma’s little ones in his own and adjusts his fingers gently into the correct position, “Very good, Yuma-kun, your right fingers need to be just a bit higher than your left, though. Not the same. Can you remember that?”

Yuma probably cannot remember that, but he smiles happily at the proud tone his Tou-san used and nods vigorously, “‘course I can! I’m smart!”

“I know you are. When you have that seal down I’ll teach you a new one, alright?” Tou-san ruffles Yuma’s already messy hair and hands him the sippy cup again. 

“‘Kay! Can we go to the park?” Yuma loves the park. There’s a sand box and things to climb on and other kids. 

“If you’re good, I promise we’ll go later,” Tou-San picks him up and sets him on his lap as he leans back and closes his eyes. 

Yuma is thrilled, all grief over his mother being gone forgotten. Tou-San said she’s coming back and he gets to go to the park. Maybe Kaa-Chan will be back by the time they get back from the park. She’s fast. Yuma thinks she’ll be home quickly. 


	3. Chapter 3

“When’s Kaa-chan coming home?” Yuma stares up at Tou-San curiously as he directs him through his morning stretches. He’s asked every single morning since Kaa-Chan left, despite the answer never changing. 

“I don’t know, Yuma-kun. Straighten your leg out more. If it’s not done right, it won’t do anything,” Tou-san reminds him. Yuma always bends his knees when he’s supposed to keep them straight during stretches. It’s easier. Even if Tou-san makes him fix it. 

“What’s Kaa-Chan doing?” Yuma sticks his tongue out of the side of his mouth as he obeys. 

“She’s protecting the village. Now switch legs,” Tou-San demonstrates the switch and stretches with him. 

“From what?” Yuma’s heard a lot about protecting the village but he doesn’t understand why. The village is big and strong and he doesn’t think anything could get through the walls that surround it. 

“From the people that would hurt it. Make sure you have a good grip on your foot,” Tou-San takes Yuma’s hands and makes him grip his foot. 

“What people?” Yuma can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt the village. It’s the best village. 

“Bad people, you shouldn’t worry about them. Now bring your feet together and grab your toes,” Tou-San commands him. 

“Is Kaa-Chan going to make them go away?” Yuma knows his Kaa-Chan is the nicest person ever. He doesn’t know how she could make bad people leave. 

“Yes, she and other shinobi are making them go away. Bend forward a bit more,” Tou-San pushes lightly on his back to get the point across. 

Yuma grunts as he strains to do as he’s told, “How?”

“Your Kaa-Chan can be quite convincing. Sit up, wrap one of your arms around the other like this and pull it across your chest,” Tou-San demonstrates the stretch as he speaks. 

Yuma struggles to copy the motion and nearly falls over, his father’s quick reaction the only reason he doesn’t, “How’s she gonna convince them?”

“By being scary. Your Kaa-Chan is a tricky one, she knows how to make bad people turn and run. Switch arms now.”

“How is she scary? Kaa-Chan is always happy,” how can his laughing, happy mother ever be scary? Yuma doesn’t understand. 

“She’s very, very smart. Likes to play mean tricks on people. Stand up and touch your toes.” Tou-san moves into a crouch in front of Yuma. 

“What kinda tricks?” Yuma doesn’t think his Kaa-Chan has ever played any tricks around him. 

“When you’re older, I’m sure she’ll teach you all of them. A little bit longer, then we can go to the park again, how’s that sound?” Tou-San’s voice is cajoling. 

“Promise?” Yuma met a boy named Hayase last time Tou-San took him to the park and he wants to play with him again. He likes Hayase, Hayase makes the best sand castles. 

“Of course. First, you need to get dressed, come on.” Tou-san is lifting him up and swinging him high into the air, taking care not to let Yuma hit the low ceiling. 

Yuma shrieks gleefully as Tou-San brings him back down and holds him around the middle like a sack of potatoes. Yuma kicks his feet wildly as Tou-San carries him into his tiny bedroom and lets him fall onto the little bed. There’s toys everywhere because Kaa-Chan normally puts them away, but she’s gone and Tou-San likes to remind him if he wants to be a big boy, he has to clean up after himself like one. Yuma forgets about it a lot though. Cleaning isn’t as fun as playing. 

“Red or blue today, Yuma-kun?” Tou-San holds up two of Yuma’s favorite shirts for inspection. 

“Both!” Yuma grins happily, why should he have to pick one?

“You can’t wear both, you’ll overheat,” Tou-San laughs at him, a wide smile just like Yuma’s spreading across his face. 

“Why?” Yuma doesn’t know what overheating means. He likes being warm. 

“Overheating is bad for you. You’ll get sweaty and thirsty and it’ll make you grumpy,” tou-San explains patiently. 

“No I won’t. I like warm things!” Yuma is pretty sure his tou-San is confused. 

“Yes, you will, Yuma-kun. It will ruin your fun at the park,” Tou-San counters. 

“Not if I wear blue over red! Blue makes things cold!” Yuma is very proud of this logic. Water is cold and it’s blue. The kitchen floor is cold with blue tiles. Blue makes things cold. Obviously. 

Tou-San stares at him curiously for a moment and Yuma wonders if no one ever told him that, “How about the blue shirt and red shorts? Would that make you happy?”

Yuma squints dubiously at the man. He wants both shirts. And red shorts. So the blue doesn’t make him too cold, because red means hot. So he needs less blue and more red for things to be warm. 

“Red and blue shirt and red shorts!” Yuma counters fiercely. 

“Alright. But when you get too hot, you’re going to be mad when we have to go home,” Tou-San warns him as he helps him pulls both shirts over his head. It’s tighter than Yuma expected but he doesn’t care, he gets both. Tou-San will just have to watch how blue and red make warm. 


	4. Chapter 4

Yuma refuses to admit that red and blue do not make warm. Refuses to admit that two shirts was a bad idea and scowls when his Otou-san asks him if he’s hot. He’s only a little sweaty. He refuses to admit he was not right. Besides, Hayase is here and they’re making sandcastles in the sandbox. Yuma wants to keep playing. 

“Yu-kun, My Okaa-Chan took me swimming and it was cold and lotsa fun and I kept sinking and you wanna swim too?” Hayase’s bright brown eyes are friendly and excited while they make the sandcastle. 

“Never been swimming. Dunno how,” Yuma pouts as he tries to make a new tower for the castle while ignoring the heat. 

“Dunno how, either. Okaa-Chan helps. Where’s your Okaa-Chan?” Hayase is digging a moat around their castle. 

“Making the bad people go away,” Yuma grins when his tower doesn’t fall. 

“My Okaa-chan says the bad people gotta die. That we gonna kill ‘em all,” Hayase keeps digging his moat. 

“How we gonna do that?” Yuma doesn’t really understand what dying is or killing, but if that’s how to make bad people go away, he thinks he needs to know. 

“Dunno. Okaa-Chan never says. Just that we gotta keep doing it,” Hayase rubs his snotty nose and ends up with sand stuck on his face. 

“For how long?” Yuma tilts his head curiously because this is new and no one’s told him this before. 

“Dunno. Forever and ever and ever probably,” Hayase shrugs unconcerned as he resumes digging the moat. 

“Oh,” Yuma thinks that sounds like a lot of work. He’s also sick of being hot and wants out of his red shirt but it’s under his blue one and he doesn’t want to take the blue one off and he’s starting to get frustrated by it. 

“Yeah. Do you like cats?” 

The sudden subject change doesn’t faze Yuma. It’s just how conversation goes he thinks, “Never played with one. They look fluffy. And mad.”

“Oh. You wanna go find one?” Hayase sneezes as sand gets in his nose. 

“Yeah!” It sounds fun. Yuma just needs to get the red shirt off. Tou-San will help him, then he can get a cat. 

He runs clumsily over to his tou-San so he can go find cats, “Tou-San! I gotta get the red shirt off! Then– then I gotta get a cat!”

Tou-San is sitting on a bench and raises one eyebrow at him, “Where are you going to find this cat?”

“Dunno. Me and Hayase gonna go get one! Gotta get outta the red shirt now!” Yuma’s eyes are wide and imploring. 

“Thought you weren’t going to get hot?” His tou-san’s satisfied cat smile spreads across his face. 

Yuma scowls, “Blue is better.”

“So you’re not hot?”

“No!”

“Why do you need the red shirt off then? The blue one is already on top.”

Yuma squints up at the man and sticks his bottom lip out, “Don’t wanna wear it anymore.”

“I see. How about, instead of chasing cats, we go home and you can change, I’ll teach you a new trick afterwards.” Tou-San offers. 

“What kinda trick?” Yuma likes new things. 

“It’s a surprise. Say goodbye to your friend and we’ll go,” Tou-San picks Yuma up and puts him on his shoulders as he stands up. 

Yuma giggles as he grabs onto his father’s curly hair for balance, “Bye Hayase!”

Hayase hollers back from where his Okaa-Chan is leading him away, “Bye-bye Yu-kun!”

Yuma grins happily and waves at everyone they pass as they walk home. Yells hello at anyone who waves back. Yuma is still hot but now he gets to learn a new trick and he’s the tallest now so he doesn’t care. 

In the little apartment, Tou-San helps him wash the sand off in the bath. Yuma hates bathes. They get cold too quickly. The entire time he tells his tou-San about Hayase and their sand castle and the swimming his friend got to do and how they’re gonna kill all the bad people. Whatever that means. 

“Yuma-kun, do you know what that means?” Tou-san’s eyebrows pull together when he hears that. 

“Make ‘em go away, right?” Yuma doesn’t understand why his tou-San looks unhappy that he learned something new. 

“Not quite. I suppose that’s one way of describing it, though. You won’t be doing that for a long time. Let your Okaa-Chan and I worry about that for now. Alright?”

Yuma pouts because he doesn’t like not understanding things but nods sullenly. Tou-San is using his  _ no more questions _ voice. Yuma knows better than to try and argue. 

“Good.” Tou-San lifts him out of the bath water and wraps him in one of the yellow towels his Kaa-Chan likes. 

“New trick now?” Yuma never forgets when his Tou-San makes him a promise. 

“Yes, Yuma-kun, time for a new trick.” Tou-San rubs his hair dry with the towel and helps him get dressed again. 

“What’s the trick?” Yuma is nearly vibrating with excitement. 

“Go get a few of your Kunai,” Tou-San gives him a gentle push towards his room. 

Yuma runs to obey and grabs as many of his toy Kunai as he can. They’re all rounded off at the tip and wouldn’t cut anything, but Yuma thinks they’re awesome. Just like a Shinobi is supposed to have. 

Yuma dumps them on the ground in front of Tou-San and stares expectantly up at him. He gets an approving smile in return and his Tou-san squats down to his level and picks one up.

“Your Okaa-Chan already taught you how to hold them, right? Can you show me?”

Yuma beams excitedly and picks one up, proudly demonstrating what his Okaa-Chan taught him.

“Very good, wanna learn how to throw them?” His tou-San looks mischievous as he asks. 

“Yeah!” He didn’t know he was supposed to  _ throw _ them. He likes throwing things. 

“So hold it like this, and see that crack on the wall? When you’re ready, move your arm like this and let the Kunai go,” Tou-San moves Yuma’s arm through the motions twice. 

“That’s all I gotta do?” Yuma thinks that sounds easy. 

“That’s all. When you can hit the middle of that crack every time, I’ll teach you something else, alright?” Tou-san ruffles his hair and smiles encouragingly. 

“Okay,” Yuma narrows his eyes and sticks his tongue out and throws the toy Kunai as hard as he can. He doesn’t even hit the crack. It makes him pout and glare furiously at the wall. It was supposed to be  _ easy _ . 

“Good first try, Yuma-kun. Keep trying, a good shinobi never quits,” Tou-san stands up and goes to the kitchen, leaving Yuma with his toy Kunai and a crack in the wall that’s already annoying him. 


	5. Chapter 5

There’s a knock on the door of the apartment as Tou-San has Yuma practing counting with a pack of unsharpened senbon needles. Yuma glares at the door reproachfully. He lost his place counting as soon as he heard the noise and he doesn’t know how many he got too. 

“Keep counting, Yuma-kun,” Tou-San taps him in the nose before standing to go to the door. 

Yuma pouts and starts again, ignoring the adults talking at the door, “One. Two. Three. Four. Five...”

He gets all the way to nine when his tou-San scoops him up into his arms and practically runs out of the apartment.

“Tou-San? Where we going?” Yuma clings to his father’s shirt as he jumps across roofs with Yuma held tightly in his arms. 

“Your Kaa-Chan is back, Yuma-kun. She’s not feeling well though, so we’re going to go see her,” His tou-San glances down at him quickly as he runs. 

“Kaa-Chan?” Yuma brightens immediately. Kaa-Chan is back and he’s immediately straining to spot her as they travel over the buildings, normally he’d be more excited about how fast they were moving, but he’s trying to see his Kaa-Chan and the speed makes it hard for him to see her. 

“Yes, Yuma-kun. Okaa-Chan is back,” Tou-San hits the ground in front of the big building Yuma gets his shots in and Yuma scowls. 

“Don’t want shots!” He immediately struggles to get out of his Tou-san’s grasp. He doesn’t understand why his tou-San said okaa-Chan is back but brought him to get shots. 

“No– Yuma-kun, quit it! You aren’t getting shots! Your Okaa-Chan is here.” Tou-san’s voice is sharp and angry. Yuma falls silent and his bottom lip wobbles. Tou-San never sounds like that when he talks to Yuma. 

Yuma is silent and glaring unhappily at the nurses as Tou-san speaks with the lady that tells them where to go when Yuma gets shots. Tou-San adjusts his hold on Yuma as he walks down the hall the lady pointed out, “Yuma-kun, your Okaa-Chan isn’t feeling well, remember? I need you to be quiet, okay? No shouting or crying. No running around, either. There’s other people that aren’t well here too. Can you do that?”

Yuma blinks up at his tou-San, “Yeah, can be quiet.”

To prove it, he puts his finger to his lips and makes a shushing sound. As long as he’s not getting shots, Yuma can be super quiet. Like a real shinobi. 

“Good, Yuma-kun,” Tou-San opens a door quietly and slips inside the room, Yuma still firmly held to his chest. 

There’s two beds, but one is empty. Yuma doesn’t recognize the lady in the bed by the window. She’s all wrapped in bandages with tubes coming out of her mouth and arms and Yuma thinks she looks scary. He whimpers a little as Tou-San goes over to the lady and hides his face in tou-San’s chest. 

“Hey, Kaiya. I’ve missed you, love. Yuma-Kun is with me,” Tou-san’s voice is soft and sad sounding as he sits them in the chair beside the lady’s bed, “Yuma-kun, say hello to Okaa-chan. Remember she’s not feeling well, so try to be quiet.”

Yuma peaks out from his tou-san’s chest to look at the scary looking lady. It doesn’t look like his Okaa-Chan. Only the hair looks familiar. 

“Yuma-kun? Say hi,” Tou-San prompts him. 

“Hi.” Yuma doesn’t understand what’s going on at all. 

“Yuma-Kun is getting really good at counting, you know. And he’s getting better at spelling his name. When you wake up, you’ll be so proud of all his progress. He’s asked about you everyday since you left. I think I know which of us is his favorite,” Tou-San lets go of Yuma with one hand to reach out and gently take the scary looking lady’s hand in his. 

“Tou-San? What’s wrong with her? She’s sleeping,” Yuma doesn’t think it’s nap time yet, and the sun is still up so it’s not bed time. 

“Your Okaa-Chan is getting better. She needs to sleep a lot to do that. Like when you get sick and have to stay in bed,” Tou-San explains it quietly. 

“Why’s she sick? She’s supposed to be making the bad people leave,” Yuma is very, very confused. His okaa-Chan can’t fight the bad people if she’s sick. What if the bad people come and get them now?

“She was. The bad people made her sick. Now she has to get better,” Tou-San sighs as he explains. 

“Why’d they do that?” 

“Because that’s what they do, Yuma-kun.”

“Are they gonna make us sick too?” Yuma doesn’t like being sick. 

“I won’t let them get you sick, Yuma-kun,” Tou-San answers him. 

“Who’s gonna get rid of the bad people now?” If his okaa-Chan is here, does that mean the bad people won?

“Other shinobi. I will too. Don’t worry about that, Yuma-kun. Let me handle that,” Tou-San sounds like he doesn’t like Yuma’s questions. 

“Is she gonna get better?” If this is Okaa-Chan, Yuma needs her to wake up so he can hug her. He’s missed her and has a lot to tell her. 

“The medics are going to do their best to make sure she does.”

Yuma doesn’t think that answer is a  _ yes _ , but he’s not really sure. So, he sits quietly and stares at the scary looking bandage lady that’s supposed to be his Okaa-Chan and listens quietly as his Otou-San talks to her some more. Yuma doesn’t understand that either. He thought people weren’t supposed to talk to sleeping people. That it was rude. Yuma doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like it at all. 


	6. Chapter 6

Tou-San takes Yuma to see Okaa-Chan everyday. Yuma doesn’t like it. She’s never awake and the hospital smells funny and the medics keep touching his Okaa-Chan and it’s too quiet. Yuma wants his okaa-Chan to finally wake up so they can go home and stay there. 

She keeps sleeping though and then Tou-San takes him to the old lady’s house and leaves him there to go make more bad people go away. Yuma hates it. He gets treated like a baby even though he’s almost four and the house smells funny and she makes him go to bed super early and won’t let him throw his toy Kunai in the house like Otou-San. Yuma wants to go home. Now.

“Now, now, Yuma-kun, Your Otou-San will be back before you know it. The war can’t go on forever after all,” Wakumi-baa-San chides him when he cries for the third day in a row. He knows big boys aren’t supposed to cry, but he wants him okaa-Chan and his otou-San and he hates it here. He doesn’t even know what a war is or why that matters. 

“Want Tou-San now!” He stomps his foot and glares furiously at the old lady. He wants to go home. 

“Yuma-kun, your Tou-San isn’t here. He’s not going to be here for a few months. He’s fighting off all those nasty Kumo nin,” Wakumi-baa-San explains like that means anything to Yuma. 

“Don’t care!” Yuma yells it at the top of his lungs. Screams all the rage his little body is capable of holding. Wails and rages the way only a small, frustrated, and confused child can. 

He’s not prepared for the sharp slap to his cheek from the old woman. Pain and shock making him go silent as he stares up at her. No one has ever hit him before and he has no idea why she did that. His lip wobble and tears drip down his face. 

“That’s enough! You’re too old to be behaving like that and I will not have it in my house! Do you understand me?” The old woman glares down at him, all kindness gone. 

“Ye–Yes,” Yuma’s face stings from the hit and he wants his Kaa-Chan, but she’s sleeping and he doesn’t know what to do. 

“Good. Go wash your hands now or no dinner,” Wakumi-baa-San turns away from the sniffling boy as she says that. 

Yuma rubs his face and walks as quietly as he can away. He doesn’t like it here and he wants his parents and he wants his room and his toys and his Kaa-Chan’s laughter and his Tou-san’s satisfied cat smile. He doesn’t understand why Tou-san had to leave him here while Kaa-Chan is still asleep. Why couldn’t he wait until she woke up? Yuma is miserable and he doesn’t know how not to be. Kaa-Chan never taught him that. 

Yuma has to climb onto the little step-stool in the bathroom to reach the sink, has to strain and climb halfway onto the counter to turn the faucet on. Yuma grunts as he falls back onto the stool. He can barely see above the counter, just his wide purple eyes full of tears staring back at him from the mirror as he tries to wash his hands the was Kaa-Chan showed him. 

With just as much effort he manages to turn the water back off and falls down off the counter, knocking the stool over and hitting his head against the wall. Immediately, Yuma starts wailing from the shock and new pain. 

The old woman appears in the doorway of the bathroom scowling, “What on earth? Get up, Yuma-kun. So clumsy. You’ll never be a shinobi if you’re constantly falling over. You cry too much too, Shinobi are never to cry. How do you think you’ll make your parents proud if you end up being such a weak shinobi?”

Yuma holds his head and cries harder. He doesn’t understand why he’s in trouble now. It was an accident and his head hurts and he wants to go home. 

She drags him to his feet and checks his head once, “You’re fine. Just a bump. Now quit crying. You’re barely hurt. Come along and try not to fall over again.”

Yuma trails after the woman and tries to stop crying so he’s not hit again. He doesn’t like the old lady at all and doesn’t understand what he’s doing wrong and he just wants his parents and his bed and his room. Yuma just wants Kaa-Chan to wake up and tou-San to finish getting rid of the bad guys. Then no more mean old lady. 


	7. Chapter 7

Yuma spends a month with Wakumi-baa-San and hates very minute of it. She gets angry when he cries or makes a mess and Yuma just wants his parents. The old lady has him help with all the chores and Yuma doesn’t complain, but whenever he does something wrong he gets in trouble and Yuma just doesn’t understand. She doesn’t tell him what he’s doing wrong, just scolds him for it when it’s not right and they scolds him even more if he starts crying. She doesn’t take him to see okaa-Chan either and that’s confusing. She’s still sleeping and Yuma knows he has to be quiet and he doesn’t like the hospital, but he wants to see okaa-Chan. 

Eventually, there’s a knock on the door while Yuma is trying to do the stretches his Otou-San taught him. The old lady puts on a warm smile as she opens the door. 

“Kaiya-san! Did you just get out of the hospital? Should you be up yet?”

“Yes, they just released me, Wakumi-San, Koshiro left a note saying you have Yuma-kun?” Yuma perks up when he hears his Okaa-Chan’s voice but doesn’t move to the door, Wakumi-baa-San gets mad at him when he interrupts conversations. 

“Oh, of course! He’s just been a perfect little boy! You’ve done such a fine job raising him! Yuma-kun! Come here! Your okaa-Chan is here!” The old lady’s voice is completely different than it is when she’s just talking to Yuma. 

Yuma doesn’t need to hear anything else, and runs to the door as fast as he can, he stops short when he sees his okaa-Chan though. She doesn’t look right. Her face is all red and splotchy on one side and weirdly shiny and her eye is drooping a little and only one side of her mouth pulls up when she smiles at him. 

Yuma blinks up at her, “Okaa-Chan?”

She kneels down to his level and laughs quietly at his confusion, “Yuma-kun, come here. I’ve missed you so much.”

Yuma knows that laugh and despite his confusion about her appearance throws himself at her with a happy shriek. That’s his okaa-Chan’s laugh and her hair smells the same and she’s finally awake again. Yuma clings as tightly as he can to her as she lifts him up. 

“Thank you so much for taking care of him, Wakumi-san,” His okaa-Chan presses her cheek against his head and hugs him tightly as she speaks. 

“Anytime, Kaiya-san! Be good for your okaa-Chan, Yuma-kun!” 

Yuma just buries his face into his okaa-Chan’s neck and refuses to respond to to lady. He’s completely content to ignore everything but his okaa-Chan as she carries him through the streets home. She’s warm and safe and Yuma refuses to release her. If she can’t put him down, she can’t leave again. 

His Okaa-Chan has to nearly pry him off when they get inside their apartment to set him at the kitchen table, “Are you hungry, Yuma-kun?”

Yuma grins happily, his Kaa-Chan makes the best food, “fish!”

“Oh? Good thing I went to the market before I got you, isn’t it? Would you eat grilled mackerel?” Kaa-Chan smiles are him and Yuma is still not sure about why she looks funny if she was just sick, but he doesn’t mind that only one side of her face is smiling. 

“Yes, Kaa-Chan! I promise!” Yuma is practically bouncing in his seat as he watches every move his Kaa-Chan makes. 

“While I cook, why don’t you tell me everything you did while I was gone? Your otou-San’s note said you’ve gotten good at counting and that you can throw kunai now.” Dark, happy eyes look down at him as she speaks. 

“Yeah! I can throw Kunai really good! And me an’ Hayase made sandcastles but otou-San wouldn’t let me catch a cat! And– and I can count really high now! And I can write my name! And I can touch my toes real good!” Yuma tells her everything he can think off that he liked. 

“And how was staying with Wakumi-San?”

Yuma goes quiet for a minute and frowns at his mother’s back, “S’okay.”

“Only okay? That doesn’t sound like you liked it much,” Kaa-Chan says over her shoulder, looking at him with the eye on the not messed up side of her face. 

“Smelled funny. Had to sleep super, super early,” Yuma isn’t sure if he’s allowed to tattle on grown ups. 

“I see. And you don’t like going to bed early, do you?”

“No! Too bright to sleep!” Yuma hates sleeping when it’s not pitch black in his room. It’s too bright otherwise and he can’t sleep. 

“Your otou-San is the same way. It’s your eyes, you know. Helps you see in the dark. Like cats,” Kaa-Chan explains. 

“Can I catch a cat?” Maybe okaa-Chan will let him. 

“Not yet, but guess what?”

“What?”

“When you’re a shinobi, there’s an entire mission just for catching one cat,” His Kaa-Chan laughs as she tells him that, like it’s the funniest joke in the world. 

“Really?” Yuma didn’t know that. 

“Really, you’ll get to do that a lot.”

“Sounds fun! Wanna catch the cat now!” Yuma really wants to be a ninja now, then he gets to catch a cat. Him and Hayase won’t have to ask their parents if they can then. They’ll just do it. 

“One day, you’ll get to,” his Kaa-Chan laughs like she knows something he doesn’t. Yuma doesn’t mind though, his Kaa-Chan is back and shinobi catch cats and no more old lady. He’s much, much happier now. 


	8. Chapter 8

Yuma gets lost in the market place on his fourth birthday. His Kaa-Chan needed to buy ingredients to make cake and Yuma was supposed to stay with her the whole time but he’d seen a toy he’d wanted to look at and run off. Now he’s lost and crying and can’t find Kaa-Chan in the sea of much taller people. 

He’s sniffling and trying not to cry as he tries to find her. He can feel his tears dripping down his cheeks and rubs furiously and he calls out for her as loudly as he can. Yuma trips and falls in a puddle and can’t hold back his sobs anymore. He’s overwhelmed and scared and wants him Kaa-Chan. Yuma stumbles to his feet, dripping dirty water and twists his hands into his shirt as he yells as loud as he can. 

“Hey, little guy, are you alright?” There’s a bright, friendly voice behind Yuma that makes him spin around and stare wide eyes up at a boy with orange goggles on his head. 

Yuma blinks tears out of his eyes and stares at him. Kaa-Chan taught him not to talk to strangers. So he doesn’t. He screams at the top of his lungs instead. 

Panic flashes arcoss the boy’s face and he waves his hands frantically in a placating manner, “Hey! Hey, it’s alright! I’m not going to hurt you! I’m a shinobi, you know? I want to help.”

Yuma’s face twists up in confusion. The boy doesn’t  _ look _ like a shinobi. He doesn’t have the jacket that his okaa-Chan and otou-San have, “Where’s the ninja jacket?”

The boy tips his head to the side a little in confusion before understanding flashes across his face, “You mean a flak jacket? Only Chuunin and jounin get those. I’m a genin. My name is Uchiha Obito, what’s yours?”

“Tanaka Yuma.” Yuma offers hesitantly. 

“I like your name, can you tell what’s wrong?” Obito crouches down in front of Yuma and smiles encouragingly at him. 

“Can’t find Okaa-chan.” Yuma shuffles his feet and can feel his eyes start to burn with new tears. 

“Okay, okay, well, I’ll help you find her, alright? What’s her name?” Obito is nodding to himself and Yuma doesn’t really get why. 

“Kaiya.”

“That’s a real pretty name. How about I give you a piggyback ride until we find her, okay?”

Yuma hesitates but finally nods. Giggles a little when Obito exaggerates assuming a good position for Yuma to climb onto his back. 

When Yuma is up on the boy’s back, and clinging tightly to his neck, Obito huffs and stands up, “You’re a big kid, you know that? You’ll be way bigger than me if you keep growing, how old are you?”

“Four today!” Yuma laughs as Obito takes them up onto the roof of one of the market stalls. 

“Happy birthday, Yuma-kun! That’s an important age, you really  _ are _ a big kid now.” Obito grins at him over his shoulder as he looks around, “What’s your okaa-Chan look like?”

“Okaa-Chan is really pretty,” Yuma tells him seriously. His okaa-Chan is the prettiest, even with the funny marks on her face. 

“I bet, can you tell me what her hair color is?”

“Like mine!” Yuma loves that he and his Kaa-Chan both have the same sandy colored hair. 

“And what color are her eyes? Purple, too?” 

“No! That’s otou-san! Okaa-Chan’s got black eyes!” Yuma shakes his head and explains carefully. Obviously, his okaa-Chan doesn’t have purple eyes. 

“Do you remember how she’s dressed?”

“Long skirt. Pretty shirt.” Yuma nods definitively. She’s not in her ninja jacket for sure. 

“What colors?”

Yuma pulls his eyebrows together and tries to think, sticks his tongue out in concentration, “Yellow. Okaa-Chan likes yellow a lot.”

“She was wearing all yellow?” Obito sounds doubtful. 

“Yellow skirt,” Yuma knows because he was holding onto it before he got distracted. 

“Okay, do you remember her shirt color?”

“No,” Yuma chirps. 

“Alright, that’s fine. Are you going to go to the academy when you’re old enough? Be a shinobi?” Obito hops over to a different market stall roof. 

“Yeah! Gonna be the best!” Yuma can’t wait. 

“I bet so! I’m gonna be Hokage, you know. You’ll be one of my shinobi one day,” Obito smiles at him over his shoulder again. 

“Really? Does that mean I get to chase the cat?”

“You mean Tora? I mean, yeah, but only for a little while. You won’t have to do it forever, don’t worry,” Obito seems confused at the question. 

“Oh. I like cats. I wanna chase one,” Yuma explains carefully, making sure Obito knows how important that is. 

“Well, you’ll definitely get to do that. Is that her?” Obito points.

Yuma has to strain to follow his finger to the woman looking around frantically, immediately he’s scrambling to get down off Obito’s back, “Kaa-Chan! Kaa-Chan! I’m here! I made a new friend! Look!”

Kaa-Chan is in front of him and checking him over in heartbeat, “Where did you go, Yuma-Kun? You know I told you to stay with me!”

“Sorry. Look! I made a friend! This is Obito-nii! He’s a shinobi and he’s gonna be Hokage and let me chase cats!” Yuma gestures wildly with one hand and tugs on Obito’s pants.

Kaa-Chan smiles at Obito gratefully and takes Yuma’s hand off Obito’s pants, “Thank you so much for finding him, Obito-San. I’m sorry if he’s caused you any trouble.”

Obito seems flustered at the thanks and smiles sheepishly, “It was no problem! Yuma-kun is a good kid. Bye Yuma-kun! Happy birthday!”

Yuma waves happily back as the boy goes, “Bye, Obito-nii!”

Kaa-Chan picks him up and sets him on her hip, “Such a friendly boy you are, Yuma-kun. I’m happy you made a friend, but no more running off, okay? You scared me.”

Yuma nods sullenly, “Didn’t mean to. Sorry, Kaa-Chan.”

“I know you are, sweetheart. Let’s finish the shopping now. And no more adventures! You’ll get plenty of those when you’re a shinobi.” Kaa-Chan sounds like she’s not looking forward to that. Yuma can’t wait though. Shinobi are so awesome. 


	9. Chapter 9

Time passes quickly for Yuma. Kaa-Chan keeps teaching him to read and write and count along with things like handling weapons and forming handseals. He still gets some of the handseals confused, but Yuma learns quickly with his Kaa-Chan’s encouragement. 

He and Hayase get to play together once a week at the playground, but no chasing cats, which isn’t fun, but Yuma doesn’t mind. Hayase is his  best friend and he likes playing with him. They’re going to be shinobi together and make the bad guys go away and they’ll be the best ever. 

Otou-San comes home a few months after his fourth birthday and Yuma doesn’t really understand, but he knows otou-San is talking about some of the bad guys and how they’re starting to go away and soon they’ll be gone. There’s something about a bridge and a yellow flash and Yuma doesn’t really get it, but he knows it’s a good thing. 

He never sees Obito-nii again, even though he looks for him whenever his parents take him to the market, and soon enough forgets all about him entirely. There’s just too much else for a little boy to think about for him to linger on a person he’d only met once. And before he knows it, he’s five and he’s almost the academy age and he has far, far more important things to think about. 

The war ends and there’s a massive celebration. He knows what a war is now, because he finally understands his Kaa-Chan got hurt by someone who was on the other side of the war and his parents sometimes wake up screaming or don’t sleep for days or startle when he drops something because there was a war. Because they fought in it. Because shinobi don’t just catch cats and make bad guys go away. They fight wars. They kill the bad guys. He finally understands what killing means too, because Kaa-Chan has taken him camping and had him kill a rabbit and he’d cried for an hour afterwards but eaten the rabbit anyway. Killing is sometimes necessary, is the lesson his Kaa-Chan taught him with that. That sometimes something has to die so he can live. Yuma had not liked that lesson, but he doesn’t forget it. It’s important. He understands that. 

The night of the celebration, Tou-San is busy, but Kaa-Chan takes Yuma to the festivities and let’s him eat all the fried street food he wants. Helps him win a toy from one of the games a vendor has set up, a stuffed koi fish that Yuma just calls Fish. She leads him onto a makeshift dance floor where a band is playing a pretty song and teaches him to dance with his feet on top of hers. Yuma thinks it’s the prettiest and happiest he’s ever seen his mother in his entire short life. Her eyes shine down at him in the lantern light and even though only one side of her face smiles, it’s the brightest smile he’s ever seen. 

The Yellow flash is a person, he learns. The new Hokage and Yuma doesn’t know him, but he bets he’s amazing if he’s Hokage. Kaa-Chan laughs when he asks if the new Hokage is her friend and tells him she’s never actually met the man. Yuma doesn’t understand that. His Kaa-Chan talks to everyone. How can she not be friends with the new Hokage?

He doesn’t worry much about that though. No more war means his parents aren’t gone near as long anymore. Only a few weeks at most each time one of them leaves. Yuma loves it. Loves having both of his parents home more often at the same time. They’re happier that way. Kaa-Chan laughs and smiles and jokes even more and tou-San doesn’t look through Yuma anymore and it’s good. Yuma thinks this is how life is supposed to be. 

It’s three months after the war has ended that his parents tell him he’s going to be a big brother. That he’ll have a little brother or sister to play with. Kaa-Chan is beaming even more when Yuma starts giggling and asking what they’ll be like and if they’ll chase cats with him and if they’ll be shinobi too. Tou-San tells him that will all be a surprise and he’ll have to wait and see just like them. Makes him promise to be a good big brother, with Yuma wholeheartedly agrees with. He’ll be the best brother in the whole wide world and he’ll have the best sibling ever. 

At five and a half years old, Yuma thinks the world is perfect. The war is over and clearly everything is good now. He doesn’t see how it can’t be. His parents are home and happy. He’s learning a lot and he’ll be in the academy in the fall. And he’s going to be a big brother. Yuma can’t see a single way any of this isn’t good. Can’t imagine anything ruining it all. 


	10. Chapter 10

Yuma is two months into the academy, after barely testing into the Clan and Shinobi born class, and working on his history homework, when the world goes up in flames. Kaa-Chan is seven months pregnant and struggling to get off the couch without help now that her belly is so big, and Tou-San is busy on guard duty and it’s a peaceful night. The kind of night that Yuma likes to count the stars during. 

There’s an awful, unholy, screaming roar and their little apartment shakes like there’s an earthquake. The black sky turns an awful, red orange color that will haunt Yuma for the rest of his life as the screams begin. His mother takes one look out the window and yells at him to come with her as sirens scream through the air. She’s slow, far slower now than she’s ever been before, but her eyes are sharp and her hands steady as she grabs his hand and pulls him out of the apartment. 

Yuma sees what’s causing the chaos when he looks up and across the village. A Fox bigger than he ever imagined anything being is there and it’s tails are massive and sweeping and it’s eyes burn blood red. Yuma feels true terror for the first time in his life. His hands shake and his breathing is shallow and uneven and he does not want to move. 

“Yuma! I need you to come! Now! It’s okay! You’ll be safe, I won’t let anything happen to you but we have to go!” His mother shouts at him over the sounds of their world burning. She practically drags him down the stairs into the street. 

Yuma can hear screams and see shinobi running over the rooftops above their heads and see smoke as fires break out everywhere. They make it to the end of the street when one of the massive tails slams through the building surrounding them. Rubble falls violently around them and his mother pulls him to her and covers him with her body as the world goes dark around them and his head feels like it’s been split open as a rock hits him. His mother makes an awful noise above him but her breathing doesn’t stop. 

It’s not dark enough that he can’t see, there’s just enough light coming in through the cracks in the rubble encasing them for him to see his mother all too clearly. There’s blood dripping from her head and mouth and her arms are on either side of him and shaking and he can see one of her legs is twisted at a funny angle. She’s smiling reassuringly at him though, “It’s going to be fine, Yuma-kun. Don’t worry. Everything will be okay. No going to sleep, Alright? You hit your head.”

Yuma’s throat isn’t working. He can’t speak. He can’t make a sound. He barely manages a nod. The world keeps shaking and his mother keeps bleeding and the screaming never stops. Yuma’s thoughts are scattered and make no sense to him and all he can do is stare at his mother. 

He can see her face scrunch up in pain and she makes another pained noise, convulsing slightly above him. In the dark, he can make out, far to clearly, a dark red stain appearing on her favorite yellow skirt, “No. oh no. Yuma-kun? Kaa-Chan needs to you scream. As long as you can. I need you to scream for help until someone comes, alright? I’ll flare my chakra too. I need you to do this, okay? Can you do that?”

Yuma’s heart is pounding in his ears and he’s so terrified he can’t even cry, but he manages to nod. Manages to open his mouth and scream for help. As loud as he possibly can, until his throat is burning from pain and his voice is cracking and he thinks he’s going to pass out from lack of oxygen. Pauses long enough to take another breath and screams even louder when he sees the rubble covering them move ominously, like the weight of it is going to give even more. His Kaa-Chan is acting as a brace of sorts between him and the heaviest bits of rubble and he is terrified it’s going to fall or her arms are going to give out. 

Yuma screams until his voice is hoarse and his vocal cords are damaged. Screams and screams and screams for help as he watches more and more blood spread out on his mother’s skirt. He has no idea how long they’re there or how long he’s screaming. 

There’s a massive shifting of the rubble above them before awful red light pours in and a masked shinobi with long black hair and a set of dual swords on his back appears above them. 

He’s pulling his mother out and into his arms and there’s a different masked person in a rodent looking mask lifting him up after her and a green hand passing over his throat and head. The hand lingers on his forehead for a moment and he’s unconscious before he can ask them to help his Kaa-Chan. 

When he wakes up, the world is silent and he’s got bandages around his head and his Kaa-Chan is curled up in the bed beside his, sobbing silently into the skinny pillow under her head. Her belly is still big but it doesn’t look as round and there’s no baby in a crib beside her like she said there would be when he got to meet his sibling in the hospital. Yuma doesn’t speak. Doesn’t have anything to say. Can’t think. Yuma stays silent or he thinks he’ll scream again. 

Tou-San never comes to see them in the hospital and Yuma never gets to see his sibling even though Kaa-Chan said it was almost time for them to be born. Yuma isn’t sure what happened but he knows nothing good came of the chaos and that his family is broken somehow. 

They’re released from the makeshift hospital a few days later, his Kaa-Chan’s belly flatter, no baby brother or sister in tow, and no tou-San. They end up staying in a shelter that was hastily constructed until they can find a new home. 

Tou-San is declared killed in action a few days later and his mother cries again. His body is never recovered and Yuma still doesn’t speak. Not then. Not at the mass funeral. Not when his Kaa-Chan tells him there will never be a brother or sister. Not when she takes him to the memorial stone to place flowers down amid the pile that’s already there. His tou-san’s name is freshly carved into the rock. Yuma doesn’t speak again for three months. 


	11. Chapter 11

Yuma’s academy grades drop from his grief until he’s dead last in his class. Barely high enough to keep from being kicked into the civilian class with Hayase. His class is full of grief and fear. None of the children were unaffected. Everyone lost something. Either a family member or a friend or a home. They all lost a Sensei. 

Their new Sensei is a woman, pretty and understanding, named Ayumi-Sensei. She understands they’re all recovering from the trauma of the Kyuubi attack. She doesn’t make Yuma speak in class until a few months after when he finally starts speaking again on his own. His grades are still low, despite knowing the material, because he really just doesn’t care. He gets it. He understands it. He just doesn’t care to prove it. Why should he? The Kyuubi hadn’t cared about knowledge or understanding when it destroyed so much. 

He keeps his grades just high enough not to be held back or sent to the civilian class. No more than that, though. Yuma thinks his Kaa-Chan wouldn’t notice either way. Since Otou-san’s death, Since loosing the baby, Kaa-Chan hasn’t been involved. They’d gotten a new apartment. They’d gotten new belongings. She just... hasn’t cared. 

She only buys groceries occasionally. Yuma is lucky that she’d taken him shopping enough he knows what they need. He finds the money himself and grocery shops himself. She does laundry once a month, maybe. Yuma’s Otou-San had shown him how to do that. So Yuma cleans his own clothes. She doesn’t smile or laugh anymore, so Yuma does it for her. Even when he’d rather be crying. 

The only times she’s gone from her bedroom longer than an hour or two is missions. Yuma would never say it, but he prefers when she’s away. He only needs to buy half the groceries and do half the laundry then. It keeps money flowing too. As long as she’s taking missions, Yuma knows he won’t starve. It’s a bad situation, but it’s better than it could be. He makes it work. 

Yuma is good at all the practical parts of the academy. Throwing class, chakra exercises, physical work outs, sparing, he likes those. He does well there. Doesn’t need to go home and work through math problems and hunt down history answers now that Kaa-Chan won’t help him. He hates the class work that needs him to sit still. No longer cares to know about the Hokages and what they did. No longer cares about ciphers. No longer cares about the shinobi code. It all seems so pointless to a now seven year old whose father is dead and whose mother clearly wishes she were too. 

Yuma is angry and hurting and unhappy and no one notices because he never lets his smile fall, never lets his laughter fully vanish. He channels his mother’s joy from when life was still good and uses it to try and convince himself life is fine. That his family isn’t a mess and he doesn’t care that he’s dead last and he’s still looking forward to being a shinobi for the wonder of it. He hides the truth well. Hides how unhappy he is. Hides that he wants to be a shinobi so he can escape his mother’s unhappiness by being able to afford his own home and his own clothes and his own food with mission money. He’s only seven, and already looking forward to a freedom from the emptiness of his home. Emptier somehow when his mother is there than when she’s gone. 

Yuma is charming. That’s the truth of it. A good actor when he wants to be. He’s good at mimicking the joy he used to have. Better at convincing the world that’s how he is. Ayumi-Sensei only sees a happy but easily distracted boy who’s good at the physical aspects of being a shinobi, but with no head for actual thinking. His friends only see laughter and stupid, harmless pranks, rather than the too small, too suffocating apartment he lives in now. 

Yuma lives that way most of the academy. Sees no point in not. Who cares if he’s dead last or not? Kaa-Chan doesn’t. She probably wouldn’t notice if he just never came home with the way she is now. Who cares if he’s unhappy? Kaa-Chan is too wrapped up in her own grief to notice his. Who cares that he doesn’t have time for homework because he’s too busy keeping his house from falling apart? Not Sensei, who only sees a sweet but easily distracted child. He’s easily forgotten behind his more promising classmates. Especially Itachi. 

Sending a clone in place of himself? Clever. Yuma is momentarily impressed by the idea in between worrying about what groceries he can afford to buy this week and whether he’ll have electricity this month so he can do his homework easier. Night vision or not, his eyes get strained from reading in the dark. Graduating from the academy so young? Yuma figures good for Uchiha. Free at last. Every academy student’s dream. Yuma really doesn’t care about Uchiha Itachi. Why would he? He has too many problems of his own and not enough solutions. Itachi and his prodigious skills hardly interests Yuma. He’s too tired, too unhappy, to care in the least. He just wants to be done. Just wants to be free from the misery that pervades his life. Graduation is a long way off and Yuma just doesn’t care enough to try and decrease that time. Kaa-Chan wouldn’t notice anyway. 


	12. Chapter 12

Yuma is ten when Kaa-Chan seems to snap back to reality with a vengeance. He has no idea what changed or why, but suddenly she’s functioning again. She cleans the house furiously, cleaning all the place Yuma either hadn’t cared to or couldn’t clean well. Throws out all the clothes with patched holes and tears in them that Yuma has outgrown but been wearing anyway because food and academy supplies was more important and buys clothes big enough it won’t be an issue anymore. Yuma isn’t prepared at all to come home to his okaa-Chan actually cooking for once. He’s prepared even less for her to turn on him like an angry cat for being dead last in the academy. Apparently, she found his most recent report card that he’d tossed carelessly on top of the trash. 

“Yuma! What is this? You’re barely passing! You know history! You’re good at math! Why aren’t you doing better? This isn’t how I raised you!”

Yuma stares baffled at the scarred woman. The day before she’d been locked up in her room and ignoring the world. Whatever this is, he isn’t prepared. Then he registers what she said, and he gets angry, “You’ve been in your room or on missions since Otou-San died! I might as well have been an orphan! You quit raising me when the stupid fox attacked!”

“Don’t talk about that night! What matters is these grades! This isn’t acceptable!”

“They’ve been fine for four years!” Yuma retorts. He’s grown used to being essentially on his own. Has gotten accustomed to choosing between homework and cooking, studying and keeping the house in order. Has grown used to not answering to anyone but his Sensei. Used to having a ghost in the place of his mother. The result is a stubborn young boy with too much anger and resentment built up over four years hidden behind a sunny smile and sweet demeanor. Now that his mother isn’t a ghost anymore, the false cheer falls away. 

“They aren’t fine! You’ll end up in genin corps with these kind of grades!What have you been doing?” Kaa-Chan sounds like she wants to cry and laugh at the same time as she yells. 

“I was buying groceries! Paying the stupid bills! Cleaning! I was keeping the stupid house from falling apart while you sat in bed for four years!” Yuma yells back, refusing to apologize for his grades, he wasn’t the problem here and he knows it. He remembers how she used to be. He knows from then what a parent is supposed to be like. He knows she quit in all but name. Yuma may be dead last, but he’s never been stupid. Not starving to death or ending up homeless while she curled up and waited to die for years proves it. 

“I’ve been taking missions! I’ve been in this house! You could have asked for help if you needed it!”

“I shouldn’t have to beg you to be my Kaa-Chan! You quit! Not me!” Yuma refuses to admit he’s wrong. He’s not the one who decided her grief meant she could quit being a parent. He’s not the one who let the electricity bill be overdue the first month or the one who quit buying groceries. 

Kaa-Chan goes quiet, her black eyes stare down at him like she can’t believe what he said. Like she wasn’t expecting him to scream the ugly truth in her face. Like she expected things to be the same as before her grief won out over her love for her son. 

“Go to your room. Do your homework, I want to see you at the top of your class next term,” her voice is soft and her lips are white with how stiff they’ve become. 

Yuma glares up at her defiantly, “No.”

“Excuse me?” She looks like she can’t believe what she’s hearing. 

“You can’t make me,” Yuma jerks his chin up and crosses his arms, stubbornness and anger winning out over the need to show his mother any respect. 

Kaa-Chan blinks once, before glaring down at him, “Enough, Yuma! You want to be a shinobi? First rule: obey orders!”

As soon as she says that she grabs him by the upper arm and drags him kicking and screaming into his room and forces him to sit at his little desk. So, Yuma learns she can and, will, at least make him go to his room. What she can’t do it make him do his homework. So they reach an impasse. Yuma sits in sullen, resentful silence and Kaa-Chan fumes and mutters about disrespectful children as she returns to fixing the apartment up. Yuma glares at the wall and doesn’t say a word as the evening continues on in this vein. 


	13. Chapter 13

A routine is created now that Kaa-Chan isn’t a living ghost anymore. Yuma starts doing his homework with Hayase after the academy, Hayase is top of the civilian class, a few points away from qualifying to be moved into the Shinobi/Clan class. Yuma’s grades go up a bit, enough that his Kaa-Chan’s wrath doesn’t come down on him. It’s not that he wants to do it, it’s just... it’s easier not to fight her. He’s still angry and resentful but he’s tired also. He doesn’t want to fight with his Kaa-Chan, not when things are better now, even if they aren’t quite right. 

After homework with Hayase, he sits on the old swing in front of the academy and does chakra control exercises until his stomach starts growling in hunger. By then, it’s normally sunset. By then, his Kaa-Chan has decided what type of mood she’ll be in that day, angry or overly cheery or worryingly silent. Or she’ll be gone on a mission. Those days he has to cook for himself, privately he prefers that, dinner isn’t tense and awkward when it’s just him. 

This is one of her good days, he supposes. She’s humming cheerfully when he gets home. Like she did when he was little and tou-San was alive and they lived in a long gone apartment with a crack in the wall. Yuma plays the happy son again, it’s easier than showing her his unhappiness. Easier than risking her good mood fading. It’s second nature these days to do it. Has been for years. 

They don’t talk much, not about anything important, as they eat. She asks how the academy was, asks after Hayase, asks if he’s learned anything new. Nothing that requires an in depth answer or anything that he can’t say without the happy mask dropping. She asks and he answers in no more than five or six words at most. This is one of her good days and as far as he can tell, on the good days answers like that suffice. 

Yuma disappears into his room as soon as dinner is over. There he sits on his bed and throws Kunai at an ink spot he made on the far wall. They’re not the dull ones anymore, since he learned in class how to sharpen weapons, every practice Kunai and shuriken has become a very real weapon. Kaa-Chan probably knows he’s putting holes in the wall, but she hasn’t yelled at him for it yet, so he doesn’t really care if she knows or not. He’s good at this. Even lazily throwing them while slouched against the headboard of his little bed, he manages to make a small circle of Kunai around the ink spot. He hasn’t hit the ink spot yet, but he’s very close to it. He’s dead last only because of the theoretical things in class, not because of his physical classes. There, he’s very, very much a Sensei’s dream student. It’s just his grades everywhere else are absolutely terrible. Even as doing homework with Hayase helps him improve. 

When he runs out of Kunai he gets up and turns his bedroom light off. His curtains aren’t thick enough to keep out all the light from the village, as much as he wishes they were, so with his cat like eyes seeing his target is no harder than before, easier actually, now that the light isn’t so harsh. He plucks the Kunai out of his wall and throws them again. Makes an X with them this time, missing the ink spot by a bare centimeter. Almost perfect. Yuma would be proud, but unless his aim is better, he doesn’t really care. Not like anyone other than Ayumi-Sensei praises his efforts anyway and she’s not here to see. 

He does this late into the night, insomnia has become a problem for him over the years. He struggles to sleep in rooms that aren’t pitch black, a problem he vaguely remembers his otou-San having. The black out curtains he wants though are more expensive than he’s comfortable with spending after years of strict budgeting when okaa-Chan did just enough missions to keep a roof over their heads so she could grieve in the comfort of a bed. He doesn’t complain to her about it though. He just finds a solution. Sleeps under his bed and uses his bedsheets to block the light out as best he can. It’s not the best, but it affords him an extra hour or so of sleep. Kaa-Chan doesn’t go in his room anyway, so there’s no reason for him to worry about getting in trouble for it. 

Yuma has plans for his graduation in a year. Has plans to hoard his money like a dragon until he can afford a place of his own and black out curtains so he can actually sleep well. Has plans to get out of the house and away from his Kaa-Chan’s mood swings and the way living here makes him feel like he’s walking on eggshells. He hates that he wants to get away from his Kaa-Chan, who he knows is struggling, who he knows loves him, who he loves despite the issues, but he just _can’t_ be here a moment longer than necessary. He thinks it’ll drive him mad if he does. At least if something doesn’t change and change soon. 


	14. Chapter 14

Yuma passes the graduation exam and ends up second from the bottom of the class. He wears his hitai-ate on his forehead proudly and when he looks at himself in the mirror of his home’s little bathroom, he images his tou-san standing behind him and smiling proudly. His Kaa-Chan is pleased at least. Not happy about the fact he’s so low in the class rankings, but thrilled he passed on the first try. She takes him to get ramen as a reward. That’s nice, she’s smiling, and happy, and talking about how wonderful it is he’s a genin now. 

The day he receives his genin team, the clan and civilian classes are combined into one group in the auditorium. Only thirty-nine out of the combined sixty students passed. Fifteen from the civilian class and twenty-four from the clan class. Yuma spots Hayase easily enough, sitting with a pair of civilian kids Yuma doesn’t know. Yuma sits towards the back and watches as thirteen jounin file into the room, Ayumi-Sensei and the civilian class’s Sensei following after them. Yuma’s eyes track each of the jounin curiously. One of them is his Sensei. He can’t help the sliver of excitement he feels at finding out which one. 

He watches quietly as team after team is called forward. Listens as names that aren’t his are called out. Yuma eyes the remaining students quietly, Hayase is still there. So are two Uchiha, a couple civilian borns, and a couple kids from minor clans. No one other than Hayase that he’s particularly close to. 

Finally Ayumi-Sensei smiles and calls out, “Team two, Jounin Sensei: Inuzuka Daichi, genin: Tanaka Yuma, Morita Hayase, and Ishida Kazuki.”

Yuma grins a little knowing his best friend is on his team, but the smile fades at the stern look the Inuzuka they walk over to gives them. 

“Come along, we’ll get to know each other a bit,” The man’s voice is gruff and the ninken at his side looks as unimpressed as their new Sensei. 

Yuma and Hayase stick close together with Ishida Kazuki just behind them like the smaller boy is using them as a shield to hide from the big man. Daichi-Sensei and his ninken lead them out of the academy and through the streets. Hayase glances over at Yuma with wide grey eyes like he’s expecting Yuma to know what’s going on. Yuma shrugs helplessly back, unwilling to be the one to break the silence as their new Sensei and the giant black dog beside him leads them out towards where the genin training grounds are. The man leads them into a training ground thats mostly flat ground and leans against a large boulder, the ninken laying down at his feet. 

“Well, puppies, take a seat,” the man gestures dismissively towards the ground. 

Yuma narrows his eyes and obeys, ending up with Hayase on his right side and Kazuki on his left. There’s awkward shuffling and glances shared as silence stretches on. Yuma takes to observing the shaggy haired man as he watches them right back. Yuma doesn’t like the amusement he sees in the man’s face, like they’re a joke that’s not quite funny enough to warrant a laugh. The ninken’s ears twitch every time one of them makes even the slightest sound. 

Daichi-Sensei apparently grows bored of the stand off first and yawns, showing a pair of sharp canines, “Not a chatty litter, are you? Alright, well, starting with the runt, your name, your goals, and what you think being a shinobi means, go.”

Ishida Kazuki jumps a little at being addressed and glances over at Yuma and Hayase like he’s hoping Sensei meant one of them instead. Obviously not the case, Kazuki is all skin and bones and clearly smaller than the other two boys, jumpier too, like he’s waiting for someone to stab him with a kunai. Sensei raises an eyebrow, “Well, runt? You have a voice?”

“Um, I’m, Uh, I’m Ishida Kazuki, and my goal is to invent new jutsu like the Nidaime did. I guess, Uh, I would say being a shinobi means doing whatever you have to for the good of village.” The boy hunches in on himself like he’s waiting for them to laugh at him. 

“So we have a little researcher. Not a bad goal, can’t help you much with that, but Research and Development always needs more people. And that’s what a shinobi does, not what being a shinobi means,” Sensei corrects him easily, without a hint of disapproval at getting the wrong answer, “And what about you? You’re the grunt, aren’t you? I saw your file.”

Yuma leans back to rest his weight on his hands and smiles broadly at the man, “I’m Tanaka Yuma, I want to protect the village to the best of my ability. Being a shinobi to me means to keep fighting.”

Daichi tilts his head similar to the way his ninken does, the red tattoos on his cheeks draw Yuma’s eyes for a moment, “So you want to protect the village? Well, I can work with that. Your answer isn’t wrong exactly, but it’s incomplete. Why keep fighting?” 

He doesn’t give Yuma a chance to respond before turning to Hayase, “How about you?”

Hayase runs a hand through messy black hair and shrugs, “I’m Morita Hayase, I want to be in the bingo book before I’m sixteen. I’d say to be a Shinobi is to be a weapon.”

“So we got a researcher, a grunt, and a kid with a death wish. Well, at least you’re an interesting litter. I’m Inuzuka Daichi, this is Michi, my partner. I’ll tell you more about us if I decide to keep you three,” The man looks excited now and the dog’s ears have perked up. 

“You’re our Jounin Sensei, you kinda have to keep us,” Yuma points out, fingers digging into the dirt behind him to conceal his sudden concern. 

“Not true. There’s thirteen genin teams this year, we only have to resources to train nine at most. I get to test you and decide if you’re worth wasting a jounin’s valuable time on or if you’re better suited to genin corps. So far, I’m not sure you’re cut out for the jounin path,” Daichi-Sensei explains it in a manner that clearly conveys his mirth at the outrage that crosses the faces of Yuma’s teammates. 

Yuma doesn’t give him that reaction. He may not have applied himself in the theory in the academy but he’s not stupid. Nine teams at most. Their team is two civilian born kids and a kid that was second to dead last. No clan kids, nothing really impressive about them. He doesn’t need it spelled out for him to know they’re one of the teams expected to fail. Yuma just looks up at the man and smiles lazily, “So Daichi-Sensei, what’s the test?”

Yuma has never liked meeting expectations he doesn’t set for himself. He’s looking forward to seeing this man’s face when he gets stuck with them. Besides, Yuma is kind of looking forward to whatever test this man has dreamt up. He likes new things. Likes challenges. He thinks this could be fun.

The sharp tooth smile the man gives him in return makes Yuma think that maybe, just maybe, this isn’t going to be as entertaining as he hopes. Well, at least he has Hayase here to suffer with him. That’s something.


	15. Chapter 15

“Sometimes a shinobi hunts and sometimes a shinobi is hunted. So our test today is to see how well you handle the second one. Oh, and none of you can help each other. Do it and you immediately fail,” Daichi-Sensei’s smile is closer to teeth baring. 

“We’re supposed to be a team though,” Kazuki points out, clearly uncomfortable doing so. 

The dog huffs like it’s laughing at them and Sensei smiles wider, “Not yet you aren’t. The three of you will get a three minute head start. Then Michi and I are coming after you. You have to avoid capture for two hours if you want to pass. Anyone we catch fails. I’ll take whoever is the last man standing as my student. Understood?”

Yuma stands up and eyes the large man, “So only one of us can pass?”

“Once I’ve caught two of you, the test ends. If somehow any of you make it to the two hour limit, I’ll take those students. It’s really up to you three how this goes,” Daichi-Sensei explains it like he’s discussing the weather. 

Hayase speaks up as he moves to stand shoulder to shoulder with Yuma, “Do we immediately fail or is it just if we’re still caught by the time the test ends?”

“Well, wouldn’t be any fun if I told you that, would it?” Daichi-Sensei straightens up from where he leans against the rock, “If there’s no more questions, your three minutes starts now. I suggest you  _run.”_

The boys need no other prompting, Yuma is shooting off in the direction the tree line to the right, Hayase is running behind him but splits off when they hit the tree line. Kazuki takes the longest to start moving and moves the slowest, in the opposite direction towards where there’s a little creek. 

Yuma runs hard, scrambling up a tree like a squirrel when he thinks time is almost up. He has no idea where Hayase and Kazuki are. He also doesn’t know where Daichi-Sensei and the ninken are. So he climbs. Climbs as high up as he can until he’s in the smallest, highest up branches and desperately holding on as they sway dangerously under his weight. He doesn’t think staying here is a good idea, so he starting wriggling through the branches trying to figure out how to move into a different tree without dying. 

He nearly falls out twice, and ends up making a haphazard jump between two trees, doing his best not to think about how high up he is. He manages, barely to scramble onto a more sturdy branch a bit further down the tree and hides in the thickest leaves. He has no idea if it’ll work, but he thinks this is fine for now. It gives him a good vantage point at least. 

He does his best to stay still and silent as he watches the ground below him. Runs through breathing exercises in an attempt to call the heart that’s beating out of his chest. There’s an eerie silence in the training ground that makes him uneasy. It’s like waiting for lightning to strike. 

Yuma tenses as Michi appears sniffing the air and ground excitedly. Yuma hopes the dog won’t be able to find him in his tree. He doesn’t think it will be able to. He moved between trees after all. He freezes at the sudden breath on his neck. 

“Tanaka. Good try moving between trees like this. Problem is, I can still smell you,” Daichi-Sensei sounds entirely too amused and Yuma does the first thing he can think of. He throws himself out of a tree, forty feet up, like an idiot. 

He hears a curse and a body is slamming into him and sending him sideways. Yuma ends up dangling in Daichi-Sensei’s grip like a sack of potatoes as the man saves him from his unintentional, spontaneous suicide. Yuma doesn’t bother to thank him though. Immediately starts struggling and trying to squirm his way out of his predicament. He manages, very much by accident, to elbow the man in the privates. That gets him dropped to the ground. 

Daichi-Sensei curses again while Yuma takes off running. Zig zagging through the trees as fast as he can. He can feel killing intent behind him and is very much disinterested in sticking around to see what happens after a genin elbows a jounin in the balls. He makes it twenty meters before Michi slams into his back, the huge dog’s weight holding him in place. Yuma makes to grab a kunai out of his pouch only for the dog’s jaws to suddenly be around his neck. Michi isn’t biting down, but feeling the sharp teeth around his neck makes Yuma go still. 

“Kid, you have bony elbows, you know that? I was planning on having a brat or two at some point but I think you just ruined those plans,” Daichi-Sensei rumbles above him as the man’s sandals come into view. 

Yuma glares up at him unrepentantly. Trying to look as dangerous as possible in his position. Does his best to ignore how pathetic he probably looks. Daichi-Sensei just laughs at his expression and quickly ties him up with complicated knots so that his hands and feet are tied together behind him. 

Daichi-Sensei grins down at the furious boy, “Be good now, Tanaka, think I’ll go find the runt.”

Yuma glares at the retreating back of his Sensei and the ninken. As soon as they’re out of sight he starts desperately trying to work his way out of the ropes. He can feel his hip pouch, knows he has shuriken in it. He figures if he can get one of those out, he’ll be able to get himself out. He squirms and strains wildly to try and wriggle one of the stupid things out. It hurts his shoulders to fight against the ties so much and he figures he looks like a worm or something on the ground as he wriggles. 

He stops when he sees Hayase staring at him with wide eyes a few meters away, “Hey, hey, Hayase, help me out here?”

Hayase shuffles a little, “Daichi-Sensei said we can’t help each other or we fail.”

Yuma snorts, “Just, I don’t know, drop a kunai or something and walk away, It’s not helping if you lost a weapon and I found it. Besides, he’s hunting Ishida right now.”

Hayase hesitates before wandering over and dropping a kunai beside Yuma’s hands and walking away, calling out loudly, “Sorry, Yuma, I can’t help you, Sensei said so.”

Yuma snickers at his friend’s poor attempt at acting like nothing happened as he manages to catch the ring of the Kunai around his fingers. It takes a few tries but he manages to cut the rope connecting his legs to his arms and sighs in relief as the tension that caused in his body is released. This is much easier now that he can work his legs between his arms and can actually work on untying himself. Yuma grins ferally as he undoes the last of the ropes. 

“Oh, good job, Yuma, I didn’t think you’d be able to do it,” Hayase is waiting a little ways away watching as he stands up. 

“‘Course I could, I’m going to go find Ishida, think I need to lose a kunai, you know?” Yuma spins the Kunai in question around his fingers to drive the point home. 

Hayase smiles a little at that, “Well, maybe I’ll go for a loud run, see if anything happens while you do that.”

That makes Yuma laugh. Guess they’ve decided to say screw the rules of the test. He turns towards where he thinks Kazuki is and salutes Hayase as he does, “I’ll see if Ishida feels like losing weapons too, we really are clumsy.”

Hayase’s laughter follows his back as he goes slinking through the underbrush, working around the edge of the open field to try and keep cover. Yuma keeps the “lost” Kunai tightly gripped in his hand and nearly stabs himself by accident when he hears Hayase screaming loudly his exact location and running through the woods. Yuma is nearly in tears listening to his friend absolutely fail at stealth. He wasn’t joking at all about going on a loud run. 

Yuma thinks he’s going to die from trying to suppress his laughter as Daichi-Sensei and Michi appear fifteen meters away looking absolutely baffled by the sounds coming out of Hayase’s mouth. Sage, of all the ideas they’ve had over the years, this might be his favorite. He didn’t even know Hayase could make noises like that. He crouches down and bites his hand to keep silent as he watches his Sensei and the ninken go towards the noise warily, like they think Hayase has had a mental break down already. It certainly sounds like one. 

He waits until he’s certain they’ve gone and takes off running in the direction they came from. It takes him a few minutes before he hears struggling and what sounds like crying. Ishida. Yuma doesn’t get why he’s crying, but he doesn’t bother questioning it. Just walks over to the red faced, frustrated boy and drops the Kunai beside his tied hands.

He keeps walking but calls over his shoulder, “You should follow the screaming and lose the Kunai when you find the source. I’m going to go blow things up.”

Kazuki stutters out a thank you and Yuma just waves a hand. They only need to survive two hours. He’s betting they only fail if they’re still out of commission at the end. The screaming and strange noises from Hayase continue even as they take on a panicked note. Guess Sensei found him. 

Yuma whistles a cheery tune as he slaps an explosive tag against a tree once he’s far enough away from Ishida not to draw attention back to the smaller boy. Continues whistling as he moves safely away and triggers it. He doesn’t so much as jump at the explosion. The Kyuubi attack pretty efficiently desensitized him to things like that. He still remembers the red sky and the heat and watching building be ripped apart. One little explosive tag isn’t enough to startle him. 

He sticks another one onto a new tree and repeats the process. He goes through three before a throat clears behind him. Sensei is standing with his arms crossed over his chest and Michi stiff legged beside him, “So, how’d you get loose?”

“Someone lost a kunai. I managed to pick it up,” Yuma grins wickedly as he drops his last explosive on the ground between them and backs up. Hopefully, Kazuki is helping Hayase out right now. 

Daichi-Sensei looks down at the explosive tag unimpressed, “And I’m willing to bet someone lost a kunai by the runt.”

Yuma shrugs, “Sorry, Sensei, my memory is a bit fuzzy. So many explosives have just been left lying around. They keep going off and it’s making it a bit hard to keep up with things.”

“Uh-huh. You know, a fuzzy memory isn’t a valid excuse when enemy shinobi want answers out of you,” Sensei and Michi split up and begin to circle slowly around the explosive tag. 

Yuma keeps backing up, “Only a problem if they catch me.”

As soon as he says that, he triggers the explosive and bolts. He tears through the trees and into the clearing. He can hear the pair gaining rapidly on him. A genin’s speed is nothing compared to a Jounin’s. He’s definitely going to get caught again. 

So he spins around midrun and tries to nail Sensei in the temple with his foot. That gets a surprised laugh out of the man, “I was wondering if any of you could do anything but run and hide.”

Yuma is very much outmatched, even with the ninken staying out of it, but he still puts up a fight. He learned how to get out of holds. Learned in the academy now to fight and fight hard. He applies everything as best he can even when its clear Daichi-Sensei isn’t even breaking a sweat. The man gets Yuma on the ground and has an arm hooked around his throat, holding just hard enough to make Yuma light headed. 

Yuma is struggling and shrieking like a feral cat, doing his best to make Sensei have problems tying him up again. Sensei is calmly speaking into his ear, “Just accept it, pup, you lost. Calm down.”

Yuma does not calm down. If anything, he struggles harder. Decides to bet his trachea against his Sensei’s willingness to harm him. He throws his weight forward, pushing his throat against the man’s arm like he’s hoping his windpipe will collapse. Like he’s daring the man to allow it. It works, the man releases his throat and switches to a hold that renders Yuma’s arms useless. 

“Can you not try to kill yourself? I was hoping only Morita had a death wish. I didn’t know you were a matched set,” Sensei sounds like he wants to cuff him over the ear for his behavior. 

Yuma is panting and exhausted and still manages a retort as he hears the ringing of an alarm, “And you’re stuck with us.”

“Not quite. You’re still captured, aren’t you?” Sensei sounds extremely amused. 

Yuma grits his teeth in frustration. The man isn’t wrong. He is captured. Which does mean he failed. Still, he struggles some more, even as he sees the other boys appear. Sensei gives him a firm shake until Yuma goes limp and quits fighting him. 

“Ishida, Morita, congratulations, you two get the dubious honor of being my students while this one goes to the genin corps,” the man calls out to them. 

Hayase’s eyebrows pull together and grey eyes flick to Yuma, “Oh. Uh, thanks for the offer, Daichi-Sensei, but I’m going wherever Yuma is going. We’re a package deal, you know?”

Ishida startles and glances at Hayase like he’s lost his mind. A sharp look from Hayase makes him speak, “I think— uh, yeah, you should train all of us. It’s not okay if you only train two of us. Yuma-San is a member of team two.”

“You sure, Runt? Genin corps is a pretty dead end route to take,” Sensei pushes. 

Ishida looks like he wants to be anywhere but here, still he bows respectfully, “Thank you for your time, Sensei, I— I will be fine.”

“And Morita? You’ll never be in the bingo book if you go to the genin corps,” Daichi-Sensei cajoles. 

Hayase glares at the man and if Yuma weren’t face first on the ground with his Sensei’s heavy weight on him, he’d laugh, “I’ll manage.”

“What do you think, Tanaka? You want them joining you in genin corps?” Sensei’s voice takes a tone that Yuma can’t identify. Like he’s pushing for a specific outcome. 

Yuma huffs a little and grinds out, “Just agree to be his students already and quit screwing around, Hayase.”

Almost immediately he’s being released from the uncomfortable hold and there’s a ninken in his face licking his forehead. Yuma grimaces at the dog spit but doesn’t push the huge animal away.

“Well, nice to see you all believe in dying together, at least. Good job all three of you, you’re all my students now. Meet me here tomorrow for training. And Morita? No more of whatever that noise you were making was. All of you get lost,” Daichi-Sensei drags Yuma to his feet and shoves him towards the other boys. 

“Wait, so we passed?” Ishida looks baffled. 

“He just said that. Don’t make him change his mind,” Hayase hisses. 

“Yeah. Puppies, you pass. Teamwork is a tenant of Konoha shinobi. You rise and fall together and all that. As of today, you’re pack and pack doesn’t leave pack behind. Ever. Now go home, I have paperwork to file out because of you three.”

The boys don’t need anymore prompting. Hayase drags Yuma along with an arm around his neck and Yuma grabs Ishida by the shirt so the nervous boy can’t run off. They’re a team now. Ishida needs to get used to being around them. This nervousness isn’t going to work. Sooner the kid warms up to them, the better. Which means gentle kidnapping of said boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge Thanks to Babychlo for the fanart of Academy Age Yuma! its wonderful!


	16. Chapter 16

Yuma and Hayase drag Kazuki along with them to the pond Hayase likes to skip rocks at. They’re a team now and that requires getting to know each other. Yuma and Hayase have been friends since they were barely more than toddlers, now they need to get Kazuki up to that level. A crash course in friendship is what Yuma is thinking of it as. 

Yuma flops down in the soft grass as Hayase hunts for good rocks to skip. Kazuki is the only one that’s not relaxing and looks a bit like he’s going to bolt. Yuma hopes he won’t. He doesn’t feel like tackling his new teammate so soon. 

“What kinda jutsu you gonna make?” Yuma figures that’s a good place to start, the smaller boy mentioned he wanted to invent jutsu. 

Kazuki jerks a little and looks down at Yuma, he’s shuffling around in place like his skin is crawling and Yuma doesn’t get it. It takes a moment before the boy answer, “Oh um, I’m not sure I’ll have to research possibilities, but what I really want to do until then is see how different jutsu work together.”

“Like when a person uses two jutsu back to back? Or like a clone combined with a henge?” Hayase questions curiously. 

“Like when two jutsu by two different people are used at the same time, it’s been done before, but sometimes it works and sometimes it really doesn’t and I want to know why,” Kazuki sounds less nervous and more excited as he explains. 

“Sounds complicated, whys it matter if to jutsu work together?” Yuma pulls grass out of the dirt lazily. 

“Well, think! If we can understand why, we can use that to make attacks better! And defenses! Konoha likes teamwork already, this is just a part of it!” Kazuki is nearly buzzing in excitement now, previous nervousness entirely forgotten in favor of this topic. 

“So we’d have, like, super strong attacks?” Hayase finds a rock he likes and skips it across the pond. It only skips twice. 

“Maybe, if we figure out why some jutsu work together and others don’t, but no one really seems to care about the why! It’s important though, because if we know why, we can do it with other jutsu,” Kazuki continues, “For example, lighting is weak to wind, so combining those would cancel each other out probably. But lighting and water combined would work really well together because water conducts electricity!”

“Sounds like a lot of work,” Yuma muses as he tears a strand of grass into little pieces. 

“Well, it’s definitely a lot of trial and error and experimenting. How to you think nintaijutsu was discovered?” Kazuki is smiling widely. 

“What’s that?” Yuma looks over curiously. 

“So in Kumo, they use lightning chakra to augment their Taijutsu. It makes them really, really fast,” Kazuki looks thrilled that they’re curious about his interests. Yuma wonders if anyone has given his interests the time of day before. 

“I want to do that, it sounds cool,” Yuma grins. 

“You’d run into a tree, Yu-kun,” Hayase rolls his eyes at Yuma’s grimace at the childhood nickname Hayase had given him when they were little and still struggled with speaking. 

“Would not, I’m not that stupid,” Yuma flicks grass bits towards his best friend. 

“Running into a tree would be a secondary concern, really. Lightning natured chakra is notoriously difficult to use if it’s not your primary chakra type, even then it’s difficult. Nerve damage would be a high risk, I’d say, at least,” Kazuki bits at the skin beside his thumbnail as he considers it. 

“Still sounds cool. I wanna try,” Yuma declares brashly, he doesn’t like being told he can’t do something. 

“Maybe Sensei will be able to help. Inuzuka are supposed to be good at Taijutsu, aren’t they?” Hayase picks up a different rock. 

“Maybe? The Inuzuka have a really specialized Taijutsu style,” Kazuki shrugs. 

“What’s he going to teach us then? Tracking?” Yuma doesn’t really care much about tracking. 

“Probably not. None of us are tracking types. If I were to hazard a guess, probably we’ll be a general usage team,” Kazuki doesn’t look thrilled. 

“A what?” Hayase turns to look at the smaller boy, shooting Yuma a confused glance as he does. 

“Teach us a little bit over everything and when we make Chuunin we’ll pick our own specialization,” Kazuki clarifies. 

“Why?”

“We all have such different goals. I want to go into research, so eventually I’m not going to be in the field at all. Hayase wants to be in the bingo book, which means having to see a lot heavy combat, so he’ll probably end up going into something like rescue and recovering where he’d have to see a lot of combat. You want to protect the village, so you’d probably end up specializing as a guard or something,” Kazuki says matter-of-factly. 

Yuma watches the birds in the sky as he thinks about that. Guarding wouldn’t be so bad. He’d get to see action probably. And protect people. Kazuki shouldn’t be so nervous about telling people about his ideas. They aren’t bad. At least, Yuma thinks they’re good. 


	17. Chapter 17

The first day of training, Daichi-Sensei has them run laps around the training ground, fifty laps. He pulls them each aside, one by one, to speak privately with them. Kazuki is first, leaving Hayase and Yuma to run laps with Michi loping easily alongside them. 

Yuma and Hayase don’t bothering speaking as they run, Michi will nip at them if they do. He nips at them whenever they don’t keep their breathing perfectly steady. Yuma thinks the big black dog is having fun reminding them to focus. Yuma, however is not enjoying this at all. They’re ten laps in and he’s bored and Sensei is still speaking to Kazuki.

Fifteen laps and Sensei calls Hayase over while Kazuki starts his fifty laps. Kazuki just shakes his head when Yuma looks curiously at him. Yuma really would like to know what it is Sensei is doing, but Michi is a tyrant who nips his ankles as soon as his pace slows for even a second.So Yuma keeps running, even as he glances curiously over at where Daichi-Sensei is talking to Hayase a fair bit away from everyone else. His legs burn a little, but fifty laps around the training ground is doable. Still, it’s a lot of running. 

Yuma makes it to twenty-eight laps, while Kazuki makes it to thirteen. Sensei walks back over, Hayase in tow, and calls out, “Hey! Puppy Three, come here!”

Yuma slows to a walk and heads over while Hayase joins Kazuki. Daichi-Sensei ruffles Yuma’s shaggy sand colored hair when he reaches the large man and pushes him towards where he’d been talking to Hayase. 

Yuma glances back at the man curiously as they walk, but Sensei only pushes him a bit harder whenever he does. Yuma gets the message. They’ll talk when they reach Sensei’s designated talking spot. 

Sensei sits down, back against the designated talking tree and gestures towards the grass, “Well, puppy? Sit down.”

Yuma sits and waits. 

Daichi-Sensei raises an eyebrow at Yuma’s silence, “Guess I’ll start then. Look, I’m your Sensei, which means your well-being is my responsibility. So I want to talk to you about your life, I’m doing home checks this week too, so don’t get weird when me and Michi show up at your place, alright?”

Yuma smiles, “No problem, Sensei, Okaa-Chan isn’t a fan of visitors though, can you give me a heads up the day before so she’s ready?”

Sensei cocks his head a little, “Sure, puppy. If that makes things easier for you.”

“Thanks, Sensei! Okaa-Chan is a Shinobi too, so things get busy for her, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that. No worries there. Your file worries me a bit, though,” Daichi-Sensei gets straight to the point. 

“Not sure why it would,” Yuma grins and leans back on his hands. 

“Well, lets start with the obvious, before the Kyuubi attack, you were near the top of your class, consistently. After, you maintained your grades just enough not to be sent to the civilian class, nearly perfect to keep from moving classes. That tells me you’re intelligent. That you aren’t just a grunt that exists to take orders,” Daichi-Sensei explains. 

“So my grades dropped, it happens,” Yuma raises one shoulder carelessly. 

“It does, and after the attack, a lot of kid’s grades dropped for awhile. They bounced back though. Yours didn’t. The only places your grades were good were in Taijutsu, chakra classes, and weapons,” Daichi-Sensei’s eyes flick over Yuma in consideration. 

“So? I passed the academy,” Yuma’s smile doesn’t fall, even as his fingers dig into the grass behind him. 

“Barely. When you should have, based on your grades at first, been in the upper quarter of your class. Your otou-San died that night, right?”

Yuma’s smile slips at the mention of his father. No one talks about him. Ever. His eyebrows pull together, “So did a lot of people.”

“We aren’t talking about those people, puppy. We’re talking about you,” Sensei responds, “What was your life like after that?”

“I mean, otou-San died, we got a new apartment, okaa-Chan went on missions and I went to the academy. Not much to tell,” Yuma doesn’t like this conversation. 

“I think there’s a lot to tell, your okaa-Chan is a Chuunin. She goes on just enough missions to stay on active duty. Mostly C-rank missions with the occasional B-rank mission. Those don’t pay enough to take care of two people at the amount she takes them, even with the stipend for those who lost family in the attack. So, what was your life like?” Sensei’s voice takes a commanding tone that makes Yuma glare back. 

“It was good. Okaa-Chan is home a lot, I trained a lot, it was quiet,” Yuma isn’t about to tell this man how his mother quit being a mother when his father’s name was carved on that stupid fucking rock. 

“Quiet? Not normally something a kid with your energy level thinks is good. Are you happy?” Daichi-Sensei tacks the question on like an afterthought, like a trick. 

Yuma grins widely, it’s an easy question to answer, one he learned how to answer years ago, “Of course I’m happy, Sensei. I don’t have a reason not to be.”

“You know, Inuzuka’s have a really strong sense of smell. We can smell things like fear, anxiety, stress, hell, even grief gives off a certain scent. And you, puppy, smell like stress,” Sensei looks at him like he’s searching for something. 

Whatever it is, Yuma doesn’t intent to let him find it, “Probably just from all the running.”

“No, I don’t think it is,” Daichi-Sensei disagrees in what he probably thinks is a gentle tone. 

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, Sensei, maybe get your nose checked,” Yuma can feel dirt getting under his nails as he digs them deeper into the grass and dirt. 

“I’ll ask again, try to be honest, are you happy at home?” Sensei questions again. 

“‘Course I am,” Yuma refuses to give anymore details while he rearranges things in his head. Sensei is nosy, nosy is bad. Yuma is going to have to work harder to keep him out of Yuma’s less than ideal home life. 

Daichi-Sensei doesn’t look convinced, “Interesting. Alright, puppy, we’ll talk more after the home check. You have twenty-two more laps to do. Get to it.”

Yuma is off the ground and returning to his run immediately. Trying to put as much ground between him and his too perceptive new Sensei as possible. He does _not_ want his Sensei to meet his Kaa-Chan. If he comes on a good day, it’ll be fine. If he comes on a sad day or an angry day, it will not be fine. Yuma does not want to deal with that anytime soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daichi-Sensei may not have wanted three little genin, but they are his puppies now and by god is he determined to take The BEST care of them


	18. Chapter 18

Okaa-Chan is having a sad day when he needs to warn her about Daichi-Sensei visiting the next day. This is bad for two reasons. The first is that means the next day is definitely not going to be one of her good days, those follow her angry days usually. The second is that she never seems to remember when he tells her anything on these days. He hollers through her bedroom door that Sensei is coming the next day and receives no response. Yuma wants to scream. He really does. This is bad. He’s worked hard to keep people from knowing about this issue and Daichi-Sensei is about to blow all that hard work out of the water. 

Yuma cleans, obsessively. Takes out the trash, cleans the dishes that have piled up, sweeps, mops. Everything he can think of he does. Anything to make it look like his mother doesn’t exist in a weird state of half-being these days. He scrubs the bathroom until it looks brand new and his hands are rubbed red and raw. His room takes the longest. He figures he’ll take apart the makeshift nest he made under his bed in the morning so he can actually sleep tonight. He can’t do much about the holes he left in his wall throwing Kunai and shuriken at it, really he had to stop because he’s pretty sure if he threw one more at that spot on the wall, a huge hole would be made. 

The biggest issue is okaa-Chan’s room. He has no idea if Sensei is going to look at the whole apartment, but Yuma really hopes not. His mother’s room is a disaster zone and she won’t let Yuma clean it. She gets angry when he so much as stands in the doorway. Really, Yuma is half tempted to try anyway. He’s gotten good at dodging the things she throws at him from her bed when he goes near the room. 

Yuma is a ball of nerves the rest of the night, even when he curls up under his bed to sleep, the light suitably blocked so he can sleep. He’s not expecting to be woken up by a knock on the door in the morning. Yuma nearly has a heart attack. He is not ready for Sensei to see his home. Okaa-Chan doesn’t go to the door and Yuma knows that means it’s a sad day again. 

The knock happens again and Yuma very reluctantly goes to open it. Yuma puts a happy smile on his face and swings the door open, “Morning, Sensei! Morning, Michi!”

Sensei nods a bit while Michi makes a yipping noise, “Morning, puppy. Your Okaa-Chan here?”

Yuma steps aside and let’s them in, “Yeah, she’s in her room, probably still asleep.”

Sensei’s gaze moves easily around the rundown apartment, “And you told her I was coming?”

“Yeah, she’s tired though,” Yuma shrugs like it doesn’t bother him as he watches Michi sniff around the kitchen, mainly the fridge. 

“I see, can you wake her up for me? I need to speak with her, only for a few minutes,” Daichi-Sensei is walking slowly through the living room and kitchen, opening cabinets and check the water taps. 

Yuma twitches involuntarily, bothering his mother is the last thing he wants to do, “Can we do that last? So she can sleep longer?”

Daichi-Sensei opens the fridge and starts checking over what little food is in it, “Sure, puppy, that can wait until last. When was the last time food was bought?”

Yuma thinks, “A month, maybe?”

“A lot of this food is expired. Are you living off rice and eggs?”

Yes, but Yuma really doesn’t want to admit it, “Of course not.”

“So what are you eating? Expired food?”

“No, we went to get ramen for my academy graduation,” Yuma grins easily. 

“Ramen, eggs, rice. A real balanced diet,” Daichi-Sensei muses and closes the fridge, “Where’s your room?”

Yuma points wordlessly at his bedroom door. Michi presses against his leg, tail wagging as he watches Sensei walk into his room and look around. 

“Hey, puppy? Care to explain why it looks like you sleep under your bed instead of in it?” Daichi-Sensei sounds baffled. 

“Helps me sleep,” Yuma admits, unable to come up with a good explanation. 

“How?”

“Keeps the light out,” He answers simply. 

“Why do you need that?”

“I can see in the dark, too much light makes it hard to sleep,” Yuma’s hand goes to Michi’s head and he pets the ninken absentmindedly. 

“Why no black out curtains?” Daichi-Sensei sounds less confused now. 

“Money.”

“I see. And the holes in your wall?”

“Target practice.”

Daichi-Sensei walks back out and he’s not smiling, “I’d like to speak with your okaa-Chan now. I’ll wake her, you can stay with Michi.”

Yuma doesn’t like that but he knows what an order sounds like, “Yes, Sensei.”

Sensei knocks softly on his mother’s door. No answer. He knocks harder. No answer. Sensei calls out, “Kaiya-san? I’m Inuzuka Daichi, your son’s Sensei, I’m here for the house check.”

No answer. 

Sensei finally just opens the door and immediately there’s a pillow flying at him that he sidesteps like it’s nothing. His okaa-Chan yells, muffled by her bedsheets, “Get out!”

Sensei pauses and looks back at Yuma, “Puppy, can you go sit outside for me? Michi will keep you company.”

Yuma is herded by Michi out the front door, as his mother begins to yell at his Sensei. He can’t hear what Sensei is saying back, but he sounds furious. Michi stays pressed against Yuma the entire time as they sit and wait for Sensei to be finished. 

Yuma isn’t expecting Sensei to come out thirty minutes late with Yuma’s old duffel bag, “Come on, puppy, Your okaa-chan needs some time to herself. You’ll be staying in my clan’s compound until she gets the help she needs.”

“What? Why? We’re fine!” Yuma is incensed. 

“You’re showing signs of long term sleep deprivation, you don’t have sufficient food, and she’s clearly not in a state to be taking care of herself, much less you. I don’t know how long exactly this has been going on, but it ends now. You need more than she’s giving you and it’s negatively effecting you. Now, come along,” Daichi-Sensei’s tone brokers no arguments but Yuma doesn’t budge, even as Michi whines and tries to push him towards the stairs. 

“No!” Yuma may have wanted to move out, but he doesn’t want to be forced to by his new Sensei. 

“It’s not a question, puppy, she needs help, you need help, I’m going to recommend her to the Yamanaka’s, until they deem her well enough to care for the two of you, you can’t stay with her. If you want your own apartment once you’ve gotten enough money, you can get one. Until one of those two things happen, you’re staying with me. Be mad if you’d like, but it’s for your own good.”

Yuma glares up at his Sensei, “It’s not your business.”

Sensei sighs, “You’re my student, your wellbeing is very much my business. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Come along now.”

Yuma is in shock and completely unable to do anything but get led away by his Sensei and the ninken. This is not how he expected the day to go, at all. This is not at all what he wanted to happen. It’d been exactly what he wanted to avoid. He doesn’t bother to pretend to be happy or unconcerned, clearly that never worked with his Sensei. He knows that now. 


	19. Chapter 19

Yuma stands in the middle of Daichi-Sensei’s house awkwardly. The man lives on the edge of his clan compound right by the East wall in one of the smaller houses. The Inuzuka homes are given out based on family size. Married couples get the larger houses with room to grow a family. This one is more spacious than his apartment, but it’s still small. Three bedrooms instead of two, because Daichi-Sensei’s grandmother lives with him. 

Michi immediately goes to lie on the couch as Daichi-Sensei stretches before speaking, “So your room is down the second hall, you have your own bathroom, which you’re responsible for cleaning once a week. Same with your room. No using my walls for target practice, we have targets outside for that. I’ll get you some good blackout curtains while you get settled in. Obaa-Chan is forgetful so don’t be surprised if you have to introduce yourself to her every day, just reintroduce yourself and move on. It’s what happens when people get real old. We’ll go over house rules after dinner tonight, alright puppy?”

Yuma eyes the man warily, “Yes, Sensei.”

“Good. You’re free to speak to anyone in the compound. The other puppies are all friendly, just be ready for some rough housing. Don’t take anything too personally, trash talk is a pretty common occurrence, throw it back and you’ll have a great time. Be nice to the ninken, they love puppies, but they’ll discipline you as much as a person will if you’re disrespectful.”

“So trash talk is okay but disrespect isn’t?” Yuma pulls his eyebrows together in confusion. 

“Trash talk during play is different than being rude. You’ll see. Obaa-Chan is sleeping right now, but she’ll be up soon. If I’m still gone when she wakes up, just be nice and listen to her stories, they’re pretty interesting, you might learn something,” Daichi-Sensei ruffles his hair, “Now go get settled in, Michi is going to stay here to keep you company. Right, Michi?”

The ninken woofs in response and his tail thumps against the couch, “Right!”

Yuma stares in disbelief, “He talks?”

“Sometimes. He’s not super chatty, but he can carry a conversation when he feels like it,” Daichi-Sensei shrugs like a talking dog isn’t impressive at all. 

“Right.” Yuma just stares at the ninken and he swears it’s grinning at him. 

“So, I’ll be back soon, try not to set my house on fire while I’m gone,” Daichi-Sensei smiles toothily at him before turning to go. 

Yuma watches him go and feels like he’s standing on shifting sand. Like the ground beneath him has stopped being steady. Yuma doesn’t know what to do. Michi does though. The giant ninken gets off the couch and trots over to him, “Come, puppy.”

Yuma blinks and follows after the dog. This whole thing is surreal to him. The dog talks. He’s living with his new Sensei. His mom has to see the Yamanaka’s. It’s not even noon and his entire life is upside down. Yuma feels like he’s in an alternate reality as the dog shows him his room. It’s sparse, but there’s a bed that’s low to the ground and a nightstand and dresser and the bedsheets are thicker than his at home. It’s window is also facing west. So the morning’s sunlight won’t filter in so harshly. It’s strange. He feels like unpacking would make things messy. He doesn’t want to make this room messy, it’s his sensei’s not his. He can’t mess it up. 

“New den for new puppy,” Michi sounds excited. Like this is a good thing and Yuma’s life hasn’t been utterly and irrevocably changed in an instant. 

“I’m not a puppy,” he mutters instead of saying what he’s feeling. 

Michi exhales like he’s laughing at Yuma, “Puppy talk. Puppy is puppy.”

“Am not.”

“Puppy go play. Other puppies in pack,” Michi says it like it’s a given that Yuma should go meet the Inuzuka kids. 

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I liked you better when you didn’t talk,” Yuma glares at the dog as he unpacks. 

Michi just huffs and snaps his teeth at Yuma, “Rude puppy. Learn place.”

“Yeah? What’s my place?” Yuma grits out. 

“Daichi alpha, puppy is puppy. Puppy listen to alpha. Puppy safe with alpha. Puppy be happy,” Michi speaks slowly, like Yuma needs it spelled out for him. 

Yuma really preferred when Michi didn’t speak. He was better then. Less annoying. Yuma refuses to respond to the dog. He doesn’t want to listen to the dog’s opinions. He just wants to be angry and resentful right now. This isn’t his home. He’s just a charity case to his Sensei. That’s all it is. He’s just an unwanted responsibility. Soon enough, he’ll go home. Sensei won’t keep him here for long. There’s no way. 


	20. Chapter 20

Living with his Sensei is strange, even as life falls into a steady rhythm. Sensei gets him blackout curtains that are yellow on the side that faces his bedroom with the explanation that his room had a lot of yellow and he figured he’d like it. Yuma doesn’t mention yellow is his mother’s favorite color. Yuma’s sleep improves within a week now that there’s not enough light to bother him. Sensei enforces a strict three meals a day and makes Yuma snack in between. Apparently Yuma is underweight by shinobi standards and Sensei is hellbent on rectifying it. Michi has put himself in charge of waking Yuma up every morning. The ninken jumps on top of him every morning and barks in his ear as loud as he can. Yuma thinks the dog takes more joy than he has a right to from doing that.

His morning are filled with training with his team. Teamwork exercises, chakra control exercises, formations, Sensei wants them able to do all of that before he teaches them even one jutsu. The afternoon is filled with chores that are disguised as missions and Yuma is immediately put in charge of speaking to the clients. Kazuki stutters too much and Hayase is Hayase so the job of charming clients falls to Yuma. Yuma uses his friendliest, most innocent smile and sweetest, most polite voice to win over even the most critical clients. It’s easy enough to make the clients see children instead of Shinobi when he does that. It gets them a lot of leeway for when the clients tell mission intake if they were worth the money. 

His evenings are spent throwing Kunai at the target outside of his Sensei’s house or listening to Misaki-obaa-san talk. Every morning he reintroduces himself to the old Inuzuka woman. Every morning she demands Sensei tell her when he had a pup. Every morning, Sensei has to explain to her that Yuma is his student, not child. Evenings are good though. The woman just talks. Sometimes she tells stories, other times she asks about people long gone or about events that were current in the second shinobi war. It’s interesting. She has a harsh laugh and a strange sense of humor and was definitely a shinobi once. She likes to tell Yuma stories about missions she’d taken. She tells him about tracking a Kumo nin through the war-torn countryside for two weeks because he killed her best friend. Tells him about protecting clients long dead now and how she’d met her husband that way.She tells him all sorts of things, normally multiple times a night. How to tuck tears away when a comrade dies on a mission or out guilt aside when he has to kill for the first time. She tells him anger is better than fear. That if he feels anxiety, to treat it like excitement and keep going. Yuma isn’t sure how valid her advice really is, but he listens to her all the same. She seems to like that he does. Sensei and Michi listen too, though Yuma is the main audience. Her best advice is simple: do right by your comrades. Sensei nods whenever she says this and tells him that’s just as important as completing a mission. 

Yuma doesn’t venture beyond Sensei’s little training area when he’s in the compound. He makes himself scarce when Sensei’s clan mates come by. Sensei allows it for now. Even as more and more Inuzuka are asking about him and why they haven’t gotten to meet him yet. Sensei just says he’s skittish, which Yuma wholeheartedly disagrees with, and still acclimating to being here. That gets laughs and questions. They think he won’t adjust until he’s figured out his place. Until he’s met the other kids and their ninken and became a part of their group. Sensei laughs at that, Yuma can hear him say, “when the puppy is ready, he’ll come out of his corner.”

Every day, after dinner, Sensei suggests he go out and meet the other kids. That he go play or train with them. Every day, Yuma refuses. Sensei won’t suggest it again that day, but Michi huffs and puffs about how Yuma needs playmates because puppies need playmates. Yuma grumbles about not being a puppy before going to listen to Misaki-obaa-San. 

He has chores too. Not many but some. He helps Sensei make every meal, except lunch when Sensei takes the whole team to get food between training and missions. He has to keep his room clean, which is easy, he doesn’t like messing up Sensei’s house. He has to help wash dishes at night. He has to sharpen weapons. Misaki-obaa-San insists on teaching him to sew any holes and tears in his clothes as she tells him stories. Halfway through, she’ll almost always take the needle and thread from him and do it herself. Apparently, he should never become a tailor if he ever stops being a shinobi. He’d starve. Yuma takes that under advisement. 

Two months pass of this routine and Yuma gradually stops feeling resentment towards Sensei for enforcing this change. He still thinks Sensei doesn’t really want him here, but Sensei doesn’t say or do anything to support that theory and Yuma isn’t willing to ask about it. Daichi-Sensei just acts like having Yuma around is in no way inconveniencing the man. Yuma is certain that can’t be true. If anything, the man seems to be going out of his way to make Yuma feel welcome. He’ll give Yuma tips when he practices what he learned in training that day on the evening misaki-Obaa-San is too tired to talk. Will patiently teach him about the things Yuma had disregarded in the academy, like ciphers and hand signs and Morse code and safety codes. Yuma is growing to like the man, but still, he’s convinced the other shoe will drop sooner or later. It always does. 


	21. Chapter 21

Yuma discovers quickly that his childhood desire to chase a cat is in fact, an awful experience. Tora is not a cat, he’s a demon, Yuma is almost positive of that. Daichi-Sensei and Michi are the only ones having a good time and that’s because they get to sit back and watch as Yuma, Hayase, and Kazuki try for hours to catch a single cat. Yuma’s arms are covered in scratches and he decides quickly he’s gonna use the pay from this mission to invest in long sleeved mesh armor. He thinks he’s done nearly enough d-ranks now to be able to afford it without having to swallow his pride and ask Daichi-Sensei for help. 

Yuma’s cheek is scratched and bloody from the first time they almost caught the cat. Kazuki is stuttering and stammering and his voice has gotten extremely high pitched as they get more and more desperate to catch the cat. Hayase is cursing more and more creatively as they continuously fall to catch the stupid thing and Yuma thinks if Hayase’s mother hears him speaking that way, the other boy is going to have bigger problems than one cat. 

“New—New plan. We need—we need catnip,” Kazuki stutters out as the cat escapes them again. 

“What for? The worthless thing won’t come near us,” Hayase huffs. 

“If— if we stop— stop chasing it, and— and put catnip out, he might,” Kazuki argues. 

Yuma glares in the direction of the cat, “Worth a shot. Not like anything else has worked.”

Daichi-Sensei is leaning against a nearby building and grinning at their struggle, “If that’s what you think is the best course of action, the Yamanaka’s sell catnip at their flower shop.”

Yuma side-eyes his Sensei, “Do you actually think it will work?”

Sensei’s grin just widens, “D-ranked missions are, in part, ways for genin to learn to think through problems in a safe environment. It would take away from your learning if I just told you how to catch Tora.”

“So there is a way,” Hayase looks like he’s willing to hold Sensei hostage for the answer. 

“There’s a lot of ways. Some better than others,” Daichi-Sensei confirms as unhelpfully as possible. 

Kazuki nods decisively, “Let’s go— go to the— the Yamanaka’s.”

Yuma exchanges a glance with Hayase and shrugs, “Can’t be worse than Tora trying to kill us.”

“If it scratches me again, I’m just going to find a replacement cat for the client,” Hayase mutters as Kazuki leads them down the street, Daichi-Sensei and Michi trailing lazily behind them. 

“Been tried already, Puppy two, didn’t work,” Daichi-Sensei says with a laugh. 

“You enjoy our suffering,” Yuma hisses without any real hostility towards the man. 

“I enjoy watching my pups learn from experience. There’s some lessons I can’t teach you, after all,” Daichi-Sensei tells him sagely. 

“So a demon cat is a better teacher than you?” Hayase questions snidely. 

“It’s a good tool for teaching you,” Daichi-Sensei doesn’t sound at all bothered by Hayase’s irritation. 

Kazuki pauses in front of the doorway to the flower shop and gestures at Yuma, “You’re the— the people person. Go— go work your— your magic.”

Yuma rolls his eyes but puts on his friendliest, sweetest expression and walks into the store with a handful of ryos that Daichi-Sensei slides into his palm just before he enters. He’s been elected the official spokesperson of their team, since Kazuki gets so nervous and Hayase isn’t the most polite kid in the world. This is easy for him though. He offers a beaming smile to the Yamanaka woman manning the counter, “Excuse me, Yamanaka-San, I’m trying to find catnip and heard you sell it here?”

The woman looks him over and returns the smile, “We do, do you know how much you need?”

“Not really, probably not a lot though, it’s only for one cat,” Yuma answers immediately. 

The Yamanaka’s smile turns conspiratorial, “Is it for Tora? You’re not the first genin to try this, you know.”

Yuma tilts his head as he follows her to where the catnip is, “Do you know if it worked?”

“I don’t, why don’t you come back after your mission and let me know if it does,” she suggests as she hands him a bottle filled with dried catnip leaves.

“Of course, Yamanaka-san, thank you for your help,” Yuma smiles sweetly up at the woman as he pays her. 

“Anything for a fellow shinobi, good luck with Tora, in my experience, he likes his chin scratched,” She winks at him as he turns to go. 

Yuma nods at the advice as he returns to his waiting team. How they’re supposed to get close enough to scratch Tora’a chin is beyond Yuma, but he’ll file that advice away for if they ever manage to catch the thing. He hands Daichi-Sensei the leftover money and presents the bottle of catnip like it’s solid gold, “So, what’s the plan now?”

“We know the area he’s in, he doesn’t run unless we chase him, so let’s just dump it out and wait,” Hayase shrugs carelessly. 

“What if he doesn’t go for it?” Yuma cocks his head.

“Then we all join the genin corps ‘cause we got outsmarted by a cat,” Hayase deadpans as they all start back the way they came. 

“It’s a— it’s a cat. We won’t— won’t lose to a— a cat,” Kazuki glares fiercely at Hayase despite his stutter. 

Daichi-Sensei ruffles Kazuki’s hair, “Good to see one of you isn’t afraid of one little cat.”

“I’m not afraid of him,” Yuma mutters sullenly. 

“Of course you aren’t,” Daichi-Sensei doesn’t sound convinced. 

Yuma glares at the man as they walk and doesn’t dignify that with a response. Daichi-Sensei thinks he’s funny. Yuma isn’t convinced he doesn’t spend too much time with Misaki-Obaa-San. They have the same weird sense of humor. Yuma silently vows not to let them infect him with their brand of crazy. 

The stupid cat is still wear they last saw him. Stretched out in the sunlight filtering through the trees and flicking his tail lazily. It’s eyes open to track their movements as they approach it. They stop far enough away that Tora won’t immediately run from them. After hours of chasing him, they’ve gotten a pretty good idea of how close they can get to him without him running. Kazuki dumps the catnip out over a little area and the three boys step back until they think they’re far enough away to keep the cat at ease. Then they wait in silent anticipation for the cat to go for it. Daichi-Sensei and Michi hang a little further back watching the genins’ plan unfold. It takes nearly an hour for the cat to decide to check out what they left for it.It takes another fifteen minutes before Tora is higher than the clouds and rolling around in the catnip. Grabbing him is easy from there and Yuma scratches the overly relaxed cat under the chin as they take him back to his owner. Watching the way the woman nearly crushes the cat to death is enough to make Yuma almost feel bad about making Tora go back. Almost. 


	22. Chapter 22

Daichi-Sensei takes the genin out to the training ground he favors and lines them up in front of a row of trees. Michi sits happily by Sensei as the man grins at them, “So, before we can take a C-rank, I want to make sure you all can do three things: Tree-climb, water-walking, and the Shushin. I know none of that is all that impressive, but they’re fundamentals for any Konoha shinobi worth more than a D-rank. Today, we’re starting with tree-climbing, any question so far?”

Hayase gives Sensei a funny look, “Uh, pretty sure we all know how to climb trees?”

“With your hands, sure. Not with chakra. The three of you all have decent chakra control based on your academy records. So, I figure, you all will have this mastered within a few days. What you’re going to do is simple enough. Start by directing your chakra flow to your feet, too much, you break the tree, too little, you fall off. No hands. It’s pretty straightforward and an essential skill for any shinobi, but especially us Konoha shinobi. No other shinobi make use of forests canopies quite the way we do. Because of that, it’s not a choice, you will master this if you ever want out of the village,” Daichi-Sensei gives them all a stern glare. 

Yuma’s seen shinobi do this before. Unlike his teammates, he’s shinobi born and a bit cynical on top of it. As such, he’s not particularly impressed when Daichi-Sensei demonstrates. It’s even harder to be impressed by a man he’s seen get bossed around by a toddling, confused old woman everyday. 

It takes exactly one attempt for Yuma to eat that opinion. Yuma puts too much chakra into his feet and discovers that Daichi-Sensei was downplaying what happened when they did that. The tree gets dented and Yuma gets thrown ten meters and ends up with bruised pride, skinned knees and a mouthful of dirt. 

Michi happily ambles over to Yuma and licks his face as he wipes his mouth on the bottom of his shirt, “Again, puppy.”

Yuma glares at the huge animal, “I’m not a puppy.”

Michi just licks him again, “Puppy.”

Yuma’s second try isn’t much better. At least he makes it higher up the tree before he goes flying this time. He’s doing better than Hayase, who can’t make it more than three steps before being shot off his tree. Kazuki is doing it in the most methodical fashion Yuma’s seen. The smaller boy places one foot on his tree trunk over and over until it sticks before doing it with the other foot. If Yuma were more patient, he’d probably be imitating the nervous boy. 

Daichi-Sensei watches their progress with a look that’s somewhere between entertained and calculating. It makes Yuma’s teeth grind as he tries even harder to get it right. They spend three hours working on it and by the end of it, Yuma is half way up the tree, Hayase is a quarter up the tree, and Kazuki has made it to the top of his, but has to be coaxed down by Daichi-Sensei. 

Daichi-Sensei grins at them when they’re all back on the ground, “Not a bad start, pups. If you all get it down in two more days, we’ll play tree tag so you get used to moving around and fighting in the trees. You don’t want the first time you have to do that to be a real fight, after all. We’ll start water walking once I know you all can actually move and fight in the trees. Shushin will be last.”

“Then we get a C-rank? Shouldn’t we know some awesome jutsu first?” Hayase sounds like he wants to whine. 

Sensei shrugs, “You’re genin. Your first C-rank, if things go wrong, it’s better if you run. I may have body scrolls for each of you, but I’d prefer not to use them. I’ll teach each of you a jutsu if we get through the Shushin within the next month. If not, you know your formations, you can move, and you’re all good with your weapons. If things go wrong, you let Michi and I handle it, understand?”

As one, the three boys nod. Daichi-Sensei has spent the past two months drilling them hard on teamwork and weapons and survival training. Actually getting to learn jutsu is something that makes them willing to do just about anything to earn. The idea of leaving the village on a C-rank without new jutsu is an even greater motivator. They all grew up on the horror stories of a war and the idea of leaving the safety of the village only each other and their weapons is not a pleasant thought. From the gleam in Daichi-Sensei’s eyes, Yuma bets he knows exactly that. 

That night, Yuma is listening to Misaki-Obaa-chan tell him about the time she had to find three lost children in the Land of Tea and was racing against the weather to do it. She’s at the part where her ninken, a long dead dog named Asuka, finds the first of the three children when the village alarms start screaming. Yuma freezes in place and all he can picture is a red sky and a giant Fox raining hell down on his head. Daichi-Sensei and Michi aren’t frozen though. 

Sensei is coiled and tense, but his voice is calm as he pulls his flak jacket back on, “Puppy, I need you to take Baa-chan with you to the clan meeting hall, you’re a puppy in clan care and this is an emergency so they’ll let you in. You’re okay, whatever is going through your head right now, I need you to tuck it away for later. Nothing is going to happen to you. Not while I’m alive, but I need you to focus and stay calm. You’re a shinobi now, you can’t let fear beat you.”

Yuma doesn’t budge until Misaki-obaa-Chan’s wrinkled, callused hands take one of his, “Well, puppy? We have a walk to take, yes we do. You can play with the other puppies while little old me gets to talk to the other ancient relics.”

He makes a panicked noise but allows her to lead him out the door while Daichi-Sensei and Michi disappear in a swirl of leaves. Yuma hates the sound of the sirens and every time he looks up he expects to see red and fire and a demon Fox. Expects to hear screams and see buildings falling. Instead it’s a clear night and, aside from the sirens, it’s quiet. He doesn’t understand what’s happening even as he and Misaki-Sensei join the Inuzuka clan that isn’t going to see what’s happening in the meeting hall. 

As she said, Misaki-obaa-Chan shooes him away while she talks to the other elders. This leaves Yuma unsure of what to do and he ends up pacing around the large room like a caged animal. He’s crawling out of his skin and keeps waiting for the sky to bleed red through the window he keeps glancing at as the Inuzuka around him keep themselves occupied. It takes three circuits around the room before Inuzuka Hana stops him. He remembers her, she was in his academy class. She has three identical ninken with her and looks extremely unimpressed with him, “Are you trying to make a hole in the floor?”

Yuma blinks at her stupidly for a moment before shaking his head and falling into his old habit of pretending nothing is wrong, “Of course not, I’m just bored, y’know?”

Her nose visibly twitches as she scents the air, “Well, come on then. There’s an open space, we can spar.”

He eyes her ninken, “Four against one doesn’t seem fair.”

She snorts and gives him a toothy grin, “Scared, Tanaka? If it helps, we’ll go easy on you.”

He gives her a crooked grin back, “Nah, screw easy. Do your worst.”

That gets a real laugh from her as she and the ninken lead him to an open spot in the back of the building, “Just remember, you asked for it.”

And that’s how he passes the hours until the sirens stop and Daichi-Sensei comes back. By getting his ass kicked by the prettiest girl he’s ever seen and trying to figure out why he never noticed her before. The fact her ninken shit talk as much as she does is oddly entertaining for him and he learns three new insults before they’re done sparing. He’s grinning for real by the end of the night and his panic over the sirens is nearly forgotten as they fight. The fact they attract a small audience hardly even registers to Yuma as he works to win at least one spar. 

Daichi-Sensei’s return ends the sparing and his face is grim enough that Yuma’s smiles die at the sight of the man. They collect Misaki-obaa-Chan and return home, Hana making Yuma promise to spar with her again before he leaves. Yuma pesters Sensei about what happened, but the man just tells him they’ll discuss it as a team in the morning and has Michi herd him into the darkness of his bedroom. He only has a few hours left to sleep, but Yuma finds that despite his exhaustion from the spars and the late hour, sleep doesn’t come near as easily as it should. 


	23. Chapter 23

Daichi-Sensei takes Yuma and his teammates out to their training ground the morning after the alarms went off and sits them down under a tree. Michi stretches across the laps of all three boys like a heavy, breathing blanket while Daichi-Sensei takes a seat in the grass in front of them. His normally grinning or smirking face unusually solemn. 

Kazuki is the one to ask, “Daichi-Sensei? What happened last— last night? The alarms...”

“Yeah, pup, that’s what we need to talk about. Yuma, you were in the same academy class as Uchiha Itachi and Ichiha Izumi, right?” Daichi-Sensei looks at Yuma expectantly. 

Yuma cocks his head, “Itachi was there for less than a year, I think. He graduated early and I never saw him again. Izumi was in the same class as me, but we weren’t friends.”

“What’s Yuma’s old classmates got to do with anything?” Hayase gives Yuma a confused look before turning his attention back to Sensei. 

Sensei sighs, “Last night, Uchiha Itachi massacred the entirety of the Uchiha clan.”

“All of them?” Kazuki squeaks. 

“All but his younger brother. Any visitors in the compound were killed as well. On top of that, he’s fled the village,” Sensei explains. 

“What’s that mean?” Hayase sounds baffled at the idea of someone abandoning the village. 

“He’s a nukenin. A traitor,” Yuma mutters, “Our enemy now.”

“Yuma‘s correct. And because of what’s happened, a not insignificant amount of shinobi are gone. What that means means, for us, is that I’m going to have to take you all on C-ranks far sooner than I’d like to make up the difference in available shinobi and mission intake,” Daich-Sensei sounds genuinely unhappy about that. 

“That doesn’t sound that bad,” Hayase sounds thrilled to leave the village early. 

“You aren’t even able to tree climb yet. I need the three of you able to Shushin before I’m comfortable with it. Our first C-rank is in two weeks. Before then, I’m going to make sure all three of you to be able to Shushin. Also, as shinobi of the village, you’ll be expected to attend the mass funeral. No excuses, you may not have known them or been friends with them, but they were your comrades and you’re going to pay your respects,” Daichi-Sensei gives them each a stern glare at that part. 

“Yes, Sensei,” the three genin all answer as one. 

“Good, before today is over, I want you all to make it up your trees. Get started,” Daichi-Sensei orders and stands up, “Michi, let them up.”

As soon as the weight of the dog is off them, they go and line up in front of the trees. Daichi-Sensei watches them silently as they try to do what he wants. Yuma keeps making it half way up the tree before being shot off it when he puts too much chakra in his feet. Kazuki keeps panicking when he makes it to the top and can’t get down on his own. Hayase is making slow progress, but at least he’s making it one step further each time before being blasted off the tree. 

It’s nearly midday by the time Kazuki makes it down the tree without help and immediately Daichi-Sensei is clapping lazily, “Good, Runt. One more time then you’re going to start on water walking, got it?”

“Yes, Sensei!” Kazuki is beaming at his success and it makes him look like a different person. Like how he is when he talks about the research and chakra theory he likes. Yuma thinks it makes him look kinda cute and that thought startles him enough that he gets shot off the tree even harder than normal. He just lies on the ground and pants for a minute while trying to figure out why that thought even happened. It takes Michi coming over and licking his face for him to get back up and go back to training, doing his best not think about that particular thought or his face will burn bright red and there will be questions. Which he’d really like to not deal with. 

Yuma ends up making more progress as he does his best to focus on his chakra and his feet and the stupid tree instead of That Thought. Apparently avoiding things is good motivation. So he sticks to it. Makes it up the tree and back down twice to be rewarded with yet more training. Water walking is not something he finds enjoyable. Yuma doesn’t like trying to match his chakra to the water’s flow. The pond might be stagnate, but there’s still movement every time he or Kazuki take a step on it or fall it. It’s not easy. He keeps falling in the water and if it weren’t for the fact he’d learned how to swim years ago, he’d probably be panicking about drowning. 

“Make your chakra flow the opposite direction of the water, Yuma,” Daichi-Sensei yells from where he’s still working to get Hayase up the tree. 

Yuma grits his teeth and tries to obey. Getting the right the speed of the flow of chakra is difficult enough. Making it move opposite of the water’s flow is even harder. He’s dripping wet and tired and isn’t sure he’s making any progress with the exercise. Still he tries. Kazuki is struggling with this exercise too. Neither of them are making rapid progress. Just keep getting soaked. 

It’s well past noon by the time Hayase starts on water walking and Yuma is startled at how quickly he takes to it. In comparison to tree walking, it’s like Hayase has been doing this his entire life and Yuma can’t help be envious of his best friend. 

When Kazuki mentions it, Daichi-Sensei just laughs and explains, “Probably has Water natured Chakra. Water walking always comes easier for shinobi with that nature of chakra. It’s hardest for Fire Natured chakra. Beyond that it’s mostly a question of chakra control.”

“What’s your chakra nature?” Hayase questions bluntly. 

“Fire. As a jounin from a clan, I was expected to have mastery over my clan techniques and two elemental natures, even with a field promotion,” Daichi-Sensei tells them with a dismissive wave. Sensei is open about anything like this. Yuma wonders if the man has any secrets he’d keep from them. 

“What’s your other nature?” Kazuki sounds fascinated even as one of his feet sink into the pond up to his ankle. 

“Wind natured chakra. A bit hard to master, but extremely useful,” Daichi-Sensei answers easily, “Back to the exercise, puppies.”

Yuma has more questions. Wants to know when they’ll get to learn jutsu. Wants to know what jutsu he’ll teach them. Wants to know what their coming C-rank is. Needs to ask Sensei to rake him to get funeral clothes if he has to go the the mass funeral. First though, he needs to quit falling in the stupid pond. And stop thinking about the fact he thinks Kazuki is cute the same was he thinks Hana is pretty. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Any Comments and reviews Are greatly appreciated!


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